New Zealand is an outdoor "persons" wonderland. A set of islands that seem to possess just about every landscape imaginable and a culture built around taking full advantage of that blessing. The country is about the size of England, or slightly smaller than California, but with a population of around 4 million it is composed of relatively few cities and towns and an inordinate amount of sparsely populated, gorgeous land.
We arrived in Auckland December 29th, and after spending an evening walking the cities hillside districts, we promptly boarded a morning bus towards our first natural glimpse of New Zealand. The North Islands Tongariro National park is home to three neighboring volcanoes that dominate the plateau skyline and, when weather permits, make for unique hiking excursions. The area was used in the Lord of the Rings movies to recreate inhospitable Mt. Doom & Mordor, and it carries that feeling much of the crossing although as a whole the park is more varied. The Tongariro crossing trail climbs around 2500 feet, between the Tongariro summit and the conical Mt. Ngauruhoe. Along the way you cross the flat moonscape south crater, along the rim of the active red crater, beside several striking emerald lakes in what is otherwise desolate land and then down the backside of Tonagariro through grass hills with views to lake Rotoaira.
The hike is extremely popular and noted for its crowds but with mixed weather forecast & the New Years holiday, we were lucky enough to have only a intermittent line of hikers along with us. The 25-30 mph winds added to the alpine feel and despite calls for rain the spotty clouds only temporary blocked the exceptional views. All in all, we couldn't ask for more from a New Years eve and despite the long hiking hours we even stayed awake to see the close to 2007.
We arrived in Auckland December 29th, and after spending an evening walking the cities hillside districts, we promptly boarded a morning bus towards our first natural glimpse of New Zealand. The North Islands Tongariro National park is home to three neighboring volcanoes that dominate the plateau skyline and, when weather permits, make for unique hiking excursions. The area was used in the Lord of the Rings movies to recreate inhospitable Mt. Doom & Mordor, and it carries that feeling much of the crossing although as a whole the park is more varied. The Tongariro crossing trail climbs around 2500 feet, between the Tongariro summit and the conical Mt. Ngauruhoe. Along the way you cross the flat moonscape south crater, along the rim of the active red crater, beside several striking emerald lakes in what is otherwise desolate land and then down the backside of Tonagariro through grass hills with views to lake Rotoaira.
The hike is extremely popular and noted for its crowds but with mixed weather forecast & the New Years holiday, we were lucky enough to have only a intermittent line of hikers along with us. The 25-30 mph winds added to the alpine feel and despite calls for rain the spotty clouds only temporary blocked the exceptional views. All in all, we couldn't ask for more from a New Years eve and despite the long hiking hours we even stayed awake to see the close to 2007.
The trout filled river outside the town of Turangi
Walking across the south crater
Hiking above the south crater with Mount Ngauruhoe in the background
Red Crater 
Lunchstop along the Emerald Lakes
The hike home
The most hoppin bar in Turangi New Years eve. We took this one around 10pm.
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