Tongariro National Park

Hey are there any Lord of The Rings -fans out there? Me, I confess, I have a bad case of LOTR-obsession - If I could live in a hobbit hole or grow a Gandalf-beard, I would. Therefore I was extremely excited to enter the Tongariro National Park, home to Mount Doom and other great sceneries in the epic film.

The National Park is located about 70km south from Taupo, and is known for mountains and volcanoes. Most of the visitors go trekking in the area, so we decided to put the boots on and walk through Tongariro Crossing, known as one of the best one-day hikes in New Zealand. We read the warnings carefully ('be fit and wear woollypants'), packed a lot of food and a lot of clothes, and woke up at 5 a.m. the next day to start the 18 km journey.

The walk was definitely challenging, with some serious climbing in steep hills. However, the scenery was simply amazing. We had a great clear weather so we had a nice view over Mount Ngauruhoe and Mount Ruapehu, which were both used in creating Mordor and Mount Doom. Apparently both of these volcanoes are still active, though no major eruptions has happened in years. The picture on the right shows you, from left to right, Mount Ruapehu, Mount Ngauruhoe and the Red Crater.

Along the way were many huge craters and gorgeously blue lakes. We walked about 7 hours, during which we had many snack breaks, several layers of clothes the higher we went and numerous 'is the wind going to blow me into the crater' -moments. Though tough, it was well worth the effort. We were lucky with the views, the next day it was pissing rain and the mountains were all covered in clouds.

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