National Park
1 December 2002 | ||
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| This area simply is called 'National Park'... | ||
Tongariro Crossing
2 December 2002 | ||
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| Got up early at 6am the next day to walk the 'Tongariro Crossing' which people call 'the best daytrip in New Zealand' - it was actually more than that... maybe one of the most amazing daytrips I had ever taken.... | ||
Ruapehu
2 December 2002 | ||
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| Ruapehu erupted a few years ago and took an entire skiing area with it.... | ||
Ant Trail
2 December 2002 | ||
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| The Tongariro crossing is a one-way trip. So its best to leave your car in Taupo and then just take a bus that drops you off one side and picks you up on the other side.... You have plenty of time, so just let the largest crop of people walk ahead and stay back and enjoy more on your own.... | ||
Soda Springs
2 December 2002 | ||
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| In my bus to Tongariro I met two German girls that I joined on the walk. One of them, Ines took this photo... Later a Bavarian dude joined us.... It seemed that the entire region was taken over by the German Alpenverein.... | ||
River Stones
2 December 2002 | ||
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| Lots of volcanic rocks with beautiful colors.... | ||
Mountain Drama
2 December 2002 | ||
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| Once up on the first main part of the hike, the view back was dramatic. | ||
New Strategy
2 December 2002 | ||
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| Whenever someone was in my photo, instead of just taking the picture, I directed them... 'If you are in my photo, you might as well, do me a favour' - And they all happily obliged... The guy here was also from Bavaria.... | ||
Mordor
2 December 2002 | ||
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| The area higher up here was used to film Frodo's and Sam's trek into Mordor.... | ||
Juli in Mordor
2 December 2002 | ||
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| Nothing special, just a photo of me after the two main ascents of the Tongario Crossing.... | ||
Mt. Ngauruhoe Crater
2 December 2002 | ||
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| Looking down into the Crater | ||
Eye of the Sky
2 December 2002 | ||
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| Opening up in the clouds was a brief look into the blue sky.... | ||
Crater
2 December 2002 | ||
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| Unfortunately, Mount Ngauruhoe in the back was covered in clouds.... It has the honor to serve as Mount Doom in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings.... | ||
Angel Snow Patch
2 December 2002 | ||
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| At least that's what it looks like in my eyes.... The ground was extremely hot here.... We knew we were on a hostile mountain.... | ||
Blue Lake
2 December 2002 | ||
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| Tongariro's Blue Lake... | ||
Vista!
2 December 2002 | ||
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| Corinna and Ines in front of the blue lake and the emerald lakes.... | ||
Emerald Lakes
2 December 2002 | ||
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| One of the most stunning views I've seen.... Especially if you are rewarded with their view after hiking up the mountain.... | ||
Gabriel, Ines and Corri
2 December 2002 | ||
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| About to start a snowball fight.... | ||
Scheh wars! (So far)
2 December 2002 | ||
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| Two-thirds of our path was now behind us... now all we had to do was walk down into the valley towards Lake Taupo.... | ||
Lake Taupo
2 December 2002 | ||
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| Lake Taupo as seen from heading further and further down.... | ||
Clouds are letting loose
2 December 2002 | ||
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| So... the rain started pouring hard... and the last three hours of our walk were spent wet, wet, wet.... | ||
Grey River
2 December 2002 | ||
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| Warm, hot, smelly grey muddy water.... There are hot springs around but they are on private land, what a shame, would have been a great way to warm up.... | ||
Waiting for the Bus
2 December 2002 | ||
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| Down at the end of the crossing, the groups of people waiting for the bus to come... Everyone was absolutely dripping wet, but the smile on everyone's faces shows how fantastic it was to walk the Tongariro Crossing.... My camera was totally wet, but - hey - it's a Canon with an L-Lens.... so all it showed was some dampness on the front lens and that was it... | ||
About this page | Contact Me at photodiary (at) gmail.com | Last Updated: 19 June 2008 - ©2007 Julian Pye