A few days ago I went on a hike across the Tongariro Crossing in the central part of the north island. The site was used in filming a good chunk of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. It was an 18.5km journey that included but is not limited to: steaming craters, lava flows, waterfalls, rainforest, salt flats, marsian landscape, hot springs, emerald lakes and devil's staircase. We started around 1200m elevation and got up to 1900m at our highest point. It was cold and then hot depending if you were climbing. Devil's staircase almost gave me a heart attack as we practically ran up it. Luckily we had a doctor in our group.
This is an active volcano, it's last erruption was 6 weeks ago, it was tiny though. No lava, just alot of hot air and smoke.
Emerald Lakes
Lava flow in the crater with Blue lake in the backround.
Me, near death. Luckily the pillar didn't give out.
Mt. Ngauruhoe aka Mt. Doom (that is alot more cool and easier to say too)
Steamy vents on the right. LOTR grass on the left.
Mountain daisy.
Rainforest stream at the end.
Sunrise in Mordor minus the orcs.
The hike was one of the coolest things I've ever done.
This is an active volcano, it's last erruption was 6 weeks ago, it was tiny though. No lava, just alot of hot air and smoke.
Emerald Lakes
Lava flow in the crater with Blue lake in the backround.
Me, near death. Luckily the pillar didn't give out.
Mt. Ngauruhoe aka Mt. Doom (that is alot more cool and easier to say too)
Steamy vents on the right. LOTR grass on the left.
Mountain daisy.
Rainforest stream at the end.
Sunrise in Mordor minus the orcs.
1 comment:
Hi Rob; Thanks for the great pictures! You're seeing a lot of neat things and makes us feel as if we should go to N.Z. some day.Are you on the north island for awhile longer? Keep in touch. Mom
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