Ring of Fire

Mt. Doom  1 – Eric & Dana 0. The volcano won the first round as we visited on a day that turned out to be a challenge to ski. We braved some strange weather (a mix of snow and rain) that left us soaked to the bone. There was also a cloud hanging around the volcano all day, limiting visibility to just a few meters ahead of you. Less than optimal conditions! We struggled along, losing each other (and the trails) several times due to the visibility, and called it a day around 2 pm. Lesson learned from the experience: check the weather beforehand as it can be unpredictable in New Zealand. Maybe a little volcanic activity would have been good to warm us up!

We’re going to tackle Mt. Ruapehu again in the summer for supposedly one of the best day hikes in all of New Zealand, and see if we can even the score. It was difficult to get good pictures of the volcanoes due to the cloud cover, however we could occasionally get glimpses of the striking view of the three active volcanoes in the area (Ngauruhoe, Tongariro, Mt Ruapehu). All three are contained within Tongariro National Park, New Zealand’s first and the fourth oldest national park in the world. Thankfully we didn’t encounter any volcanic eruptions during our visit, however these three are some of the most active volcanoes in the world. The area has averaged a new eruption every two years during the past two centuries.

After our defeat on the slopes of the volcano, our travel back to Auckland the next day provided for some interesting stops. We randomly followed a sign for thermal pools and ended up in Tokaanu Thermal Park. We didn’t have the bathing suits with us to jump in, however there were some pretty amazing sites of pools of water boiling and steam eerily rising from the earth.  There was also a boiling mud pool that looked like chocolate fondue…but wasn’t.

We also drove around beautiful Lake Taupo. Seems like a popular vacation destination with a large amount of hotels and shopping in the town of Taupo. Fun fact about the lake: it was created by a volcano collapsing in on itself and still has activity occurring underneath the water. We also stopped by Haka Falls (a little north of Taupo).

More photos at:  https://picasaweb.google.com/114612877246919085926/CentralNorthIsland#