Blogs from Tongariro National Park, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 7

New Zealand – Tongariro National Park and Whakahoro – Time for a bit of axe throwing and trekking at Mt Doom from Lord of the Rings.

Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Tongariro National Park April 10th 2012

Tongariro National Park - Me at the top of Mt Doom

Jon Plunkett

New Zealand – Tongariro National Park and Whakahoro – Time for a bit of axe throwing and trekking at Mt Doom from Lord of the Rings. After the adrenaline filled past couple of days it was time to head into the wild of the national parks for some trekking. We would first be heading to a cool little place called Blue Duck Lodge in Whakahoro or as its actually pronounced f*ck-a-whore-o which raised a few smiles from the English contingent on the bus every time it was talked about over the microphone. As the name of the lodge suggests you are often able to spot the very rare Blue Duck on the river here but unfortunately we didn’t see one, mainly because we didn’t have time to go to the river, doh! We arrived around three ... read more

Whakahoro - The view on the way looking back at lake Taupo

Tongariro National Park - The postcard shot

Neuseeland - Tongariro Nationalpark

Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Tongariro National Park March 19th 2012

Peter + Berg

peterjonas

19.03.2012 Früh morgens fuhren wir zum Tongariro Nationalpark. Das Wetter war wieder super. Peter machte seinen nächsten Great Walk. Das Tongariro Alpine Crossing. Es war herrlich.... read more

Tongariro Alpine Crossing and Rafting the Tongariro River

Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Tongariro National Park February 29th 2012

Rafting the Tongariro River

Dr Robin

We haven't been travelling as much lately, just settling into real life as we are now in our 4th year in New Zealand. We bought a house last May which has a gorgeous view of the harbor, so now whenever we travel we have to think "Is this view as good as ours?" In November Becky and I went to Fiji for 2 weeks, which was fabulous-will do a future blog on that. However, 2 weeks ago we embarked on "the best one day walk in New Zealand" known as the Tongariro Alpine Crossing. Our friends the Meadows and the Ericksons joined us in this venture, and Caroline whipped me into shape(?) before the trip with some hill training. The walk is 19.4 km-that's about 12 miles, for those who are non metric thinkers. The walk ... read more

Rotorua , Lake Taupo en Tongariro National Park

Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Tongariro National Park February 23rd 2012

Smelly stinky Rotorua/stinkende Rotorua

Jasmijn and Jan

We namen afscheid van alle families in KatiKati en besloten richting Nathan te gaan in Rotorua. We probeerden hem al verschillende dagen te bereiken en hadden heel veel geluk dat hij thuis was op het moment dat we hem nog es belden. Hij vond het super dat we dan toch gekomen waren...alleen zijn vrouw vond het niet zo leuk. Ze was wat afstandelijk en sliep bijna het ganse weekend door. Zijn vrouw was niet meegekomen naar Lake Wakaremoana dus vandaar dat ze ons niet kende. We hadden wel het geluk dat we er toch het weekend mochten blijven. Nathan nam ons mee naar allle leuke plekjes dat hij kende. Verschillende meren : onder andere Blue Lake en Green Lake het ene meer is eigendom van een Maori stam (iwi) en het andere is wél openbaar maar ... read more

To the South Island

Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Tongariro National Park February 9th 2012

Maori greeting

Mags50

Day 2: We went to a Maori village to eat a Hangi meal, lamb, chicken and potatoes placed in a pit over hot volcanic rocks and left for hours to cook slowly- yum!! The Maoris took us on a journey through the forest showcasing traditional skills- carving, warfare and clothes making etc, then treated us to a great concert. Our group had prepared a song which we sang and acted badly, but it was great fun. Everyone else went home and we all stayed the night. There was a great firepit in the middle of the bush and we sat round it till the small hours and looked at the stars and learned about Maori stories. Day 3: Blue Duck Lodge. We drove for hours to an incredible remote place where early settlers had tried to ... read more

Taupo and Tongariro Crossing

Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Tongariro National Park January 24th 2012

our fishing spot near Napier

AnetaT

So it has been couple of days since we let you know what we are up to. We had the highlight of our adventure as we crossed the Tongariro Alpine Crossing which is pretty the most amazing walk I have ever done. Lukas wanted to do bungee jumping and skydive in Taupo as it is pretty cheap and very popular place to do it. However, Taupo is very touristic and money making place so we decided to leave it. I'd rather skydive above Mt Cook. We had a free bath in thermal Hot Springs on the river Waikato. There is a free campsite near Taupo which is brilliant and we met lots of backpackers there. We visited Honey Hive http://www.hukahoneyhive.com/ where we were able to try all sorts of honey for free. You wouldn't believe how ... read more

Tongariro Northern Circuit

Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Tongariro National Park January 18th 2012

SRMUSA

The video is larger than I expected, so it's taking some time to upload. Tongariro National Park is the location of Mount Ngauruhoe also known as Mount Doom to Lord of the Rings fanatics. The 42km Northern Circuit track goes all the way around the mountain and includes the Tongariro Crossing which is one of the most popular walks on the North Island. Max, Gerwin, and myself completed the whole track in 13 hours. We got a lot of hate before we did it, but the weather was perfect so we went for it.... read more

North Island, New Zealand

Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Tongariro National Park January 13th 2012

Maori night welcome dance

Frandrew

Hi all, arrived in Aukland at about 2am NZ time and after queueing at check in for about 30 minutes we were directed to our room only to find some european guy dozing in the bed!!! Worked out OK though as the next room they put us in was en-suite! A lot of our time in Aukland was dedicated to searching for some suitable footwear for the walking we are intending to do on the North Island, specifically the Tongariro crossing which is 17k hike which takes you between 2 active volcanos (including Mount Ngarahoe which is Mt Doom from Lord of the Rings). Don't think the flip flops we have been wearing till now will quite cut it!! We did find time to have a trip up the Sky Tower which was only just around ... read more

NEW ZEALAND TIME.

Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Tongariro National Park January 13th 2012

Whangarei

WannabeTraveller

This is going to have to be a short one as I have about 10 minutes left of Internet and the Internet where we've been staying is pretty expensive. We've been having an amazing time in New Zealand, such an beautiful landscape. Reminds me of Scotland at times and Canada (not that I've been) at others. This country makes me think of Dad quite a bit as I know he'd love it! The group we're on tour with are lovely, about 23 girls and 2 boys.haha. So parents have no need to worry! We already feel like we've all been together for ages and I'm currently learning danish due to the 8 Danish girls (and one boy) on our trip. Its really fun! What have we done so far? We've done Coastal Kayaking which was tough ... read more

Crossing Mount Doom

Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Tongariro National Park December 20th 2011

Paul & Mount Doom!

FloPau

Up at 5am this morning to catch our shuttle bus to take us to the start of the famous Tongariro crossing – it is supposed to be one of the best day walks in NZ. It is 19km and takes 6-8hrs. We saw Mt Ngauruhoe up close which was the mountain that was the inspiration for Mt Doom in the lord of the rings film. It is an active volcano which last erupted in 1975 so there are lots of warning signs on the mountain about what to do in the case of an eruption… so we walked fast! Most of the walk was over volcanic terrain, and we saw several craters and some beautiful emerald lakes. The weather was perfect, lots of blue sky, though later in the day the cloud came in in the ... read more

Brief history of New Zealand

The Polynesian Maori reached New Zealand in about A.D. 800. In 1840, their chieftains entered into a compact with Britain, the Treaty of Waitangi, in which they ceded sovereignty to Queen Victoria while retaining territorial rights. In that same year...more history

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