Taupo: The Tongariro Crossing

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In Taupo me and some friends got together to do the Tongariro Crossing, a 20km hike and one of the finest walks in New Zealand. The bus to the walk's starting point left the youth hostel at 6.20am, so after an early rise and a 1 hour bus journey we were all psyched for the walk. However, we got within half an hour of the starting point and the weather turned bad, so we had to turn back. God were we gutted!

So we stayed an extra day in Taupo to do the walk the next morning, and luckily the weather persisted. It could not have been a better day - warm sunshine and clear blue skies.

The scenery really was amazing. On the ascent we walked over dry, volcanic rock, and with the sun beating down it was baking hot. As we climbed higher we encountered snow and it became very cold! Then on the descent we walked over lush green, hills. Truly stunning!

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Photos

Standing in front of a volcano!
From left: Amit, Me, Chris, James, Lydia and Nati

Mt Ngahurroe
Used as Mount Doom in Lord of the Rings