Mount Doom

Hello again.

Travel day from Wellington to Tauranga. Very well-developed road with a median - essentially a proper highway! Everything else is relatively unremarkable. After a few hours heading north, we enter the volcanically active area around Lake Taupo. To the south of the lake are the highest volcanoes in the region: Mount Ruapehu and Mount Tongariro. Our first stop on the way to Mt Ruapehu was the Tawhai Falls. It is said that Gollum bathed here or something like that. Today, only daring people do it, as the water is really cold.

Afterwards, we headed to New Zealand's highest volcano, with excellent visibility. The view of Mount Doom and the surrounding plains is quite impressive. The footpaths to the viewpoints over the volcanic ash and rocks are quite slippery, sturdy footwear is recommended. The volcano is now also used as a ski area. This provides good infrastructure on one hand, but it also destroys the ambiance.

Sunset at Lake Taupo with pizza and many insects.