Volcanoe Walking

Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Tongariro National Park
March 7th 2007

Published: March 20th 2007

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Kickinitkiwi

Road to Mordor

We woke up in the morning to find Mom and Gary long gone. The weather was cooperating and they left to hike the Tongariro Crossing. No hike for us, but we found out that you can take a chair lift all the way up to almost the summit of Mt. Ruapehu, which is one the most active volcanoes in the area. It last errupted in 1995 and they had some very amazing pictures of the erruption at the visitor's centre. The drive to the base of the volcanoe was very eerie in the mist with nothing but volcanic rocks, formations and hardened lava. Very easy to se why they chose here as the set for "Mordor" in "The Lord of the Rings". We got to the base and quickly realized that we were definately not dressed for the winds and the cold at that altitude. So after a quick change in the car we headed over to the chair-lift. The operater took one look at us and asked if we'd like the complimentry ski jackets to borrow while we went up. We said sure and it's a good thing we did, because it was FREEZING on the way up....we thoguht

Volcanoes in the Distance

we had left Canadian winter a LONG time ago! So we ride two chairlifts that take us up 2,020 metres to "The Highest Cafe in NZ". (Mt. Ruapehu's height is 2,797) There are supposedly some pretty amazing views of the entire park and valley below from up there. However the weather was blowing in and out so quick we only caught a few glimpses. It was still cool though to see all the mountain formed out of volcanic rock. We had coffees and some breakfast to warm ourselves up, then stayed up there awhile to get some photos. It's actually a ski hill in the winter...but as we were staring at all the sharp, jagged rock...we were thinking "Where would you ski!?" A far cry from Canada's sky hills.
Once we were back down, we headed towards Lake Taupo...a town just about an hour and a half away-where we would be meeting Mom and Gary after their hike. We found a holiday park that was right beside the natural hot springs and decided it would be perfect. When Mom and Gary arrived they couldn't agree more with their aching muscles after their hike. So after another great sunset, we