Ngaorohoe and the tongariro crossing

Ngaorohoe on a perfect day!!


Our morning start to the tongariro crossing.


Clouds shrouding Ngaorohoe.


Mt. Doom awaits us... If you were wondering, yes this is actually Mt. Doom from Lord of the Rings. Ngaorohoe was used in the filming.



Mordor!




Sorry, I couldn't resist.


A rainbow in Mordor... WTF?



Starting the Ngaorohoe climb. All smiles right now.


up the flanks.





Getting close! What a view!


Kathy, standing proudly in front of a steaming fumarole on top of Mt. Doom.


Summit ridge.


How nice of them to have this portrait studio pull down at the top with Mt. Rupehu in the background! Kathy made good use of it.


The true summit, I think we were the only ones to go to the true one this day... no one followed us.


Looking into the awe inspiring, totally stunning volcano crater.


Holy... WOW!!


I tried to tell her it was not the right time, but she insisted on surfing...


We thought we were huge dorks when we decided to take a picture of Kathy faking to toss a ring into the crater of Mt. Doom....... Then..... we saw this guy...


Who are you?? Frodo?



Still in awe.




The clouds starting to roll in.


lower down, the Red crater.


The emerald lakes. Shown to you by Bozo the clown... what's up with my hair?





An old pyroclastic flow.


On the other side of the tongariro crossing. This helecopter was bringing up crushed stone for the trail... what's wrong with dirt??


A mountain flower.

The Hidden Valley

You had to take a boat across the river to get to this place. Lots of interesting thermal sights.


algae of all colors grow very well in the warm water



With the fern trees in the background, the whole place looks prehistoric!


This is one of only 2 thermal area caves in the world... no addmitance of course...


Algae strands in a flowing hot stream.


a steamy geyser erupting.

Camping up river from the falls

NZ has some great camping areas, and lots of them are free like this one!


The ducks (and black swans??) Like this area too, as lots of crumbs are left when campers leave. We had a bunch of moldy bread for these guys. mmmm... moldy bread.


It got a little out of control after the first couple of pieces, especially when the black swan almost tried to climb in the van and DJ had to chase him out with a bucket while he hissed the whole time. Despite his noodle neck, he managed to look quite intimidating.

Huka falls

A good size water fall flowing out of lake Taupo, there is a company that does jet boat tours right up to the crashing water.

Don't worry, gas is totally safe to be using, honestly. Biodiesel all the way!!

Diving for coins

Hey Lady! Hey Lady! That's all we could hear as we walked across this bridge exiting the Mauri thermal village. These kids in the water wanted us to throw our coins so they could dive for them. Apparently it is a tradition that is over 100 years old?? DJ's mom would have spent all day and about $500 here... The kids dove over and over for our 20 and 50 cent pieces. Kathy even threw a couple $1 and $2 coins in the mix.


The girl on the right was not happy as Kathy hadn't thrown a coin directly into her hand... so we went back to the van and made sure everyone got a coin or 2, DJ's mom would have been proud.

Whakarewarewa, thermal Mauri village

This is an actual village where Mauri people still live, work, and play. The whole place is built on thermal springs, and they use them in lots of daily life, from cooking to swimming, to heating their homes in the winter, and most importantly to attract tourists in so they can sell us junk!!



This is the cooking pool, we had some corn cooked in a bag swished around in this water. A bit sulfury tasting, but not bad actually.


Pohutu geyser, New Zealand's largest one!


This pool was so vigorously boiling and steaming you could hardly see when you walked the bridge over it.


Kathy just liked this... The Mauri intimidation dancing always includes wide eyes and a stuck out tongue.