01 March Ohakune - Rotorua

Along the Desert Road (50 km at an altitude of 1000m) through the Rangipo Desert, which is actually not a desert. But the barren landscape with scree fields and clumps of grass in the midst of a volcanic landscape appears inhospitable and gave the area its name. In any case, today we had a clear view of the three volcanoes of Tongariro National Park, Mt. Tongariro, Mt. Ngauruhoe, and Mt. Ruapehu, which were denied to us on February 24th. We take a small lunch break at Lake Taupo.

On the way to Rotorua, we visit the Waimangu Volcanic Valley at the foot of Mt. Tarawera, an active but currently dormant volcano. Before its last eruption on June 10, 1886, the Waimangu Valley was a gentle bush landscape without hydrothermal activity. Afterwards, everything was different, from 1900 - 1904 the world's largest geyser was active, with its fountain visible up to a kilometer away. In 1917, the 'Frying Pan Lake' erupted. So it’s bubbling out of the ground everywhere and it smells like sulfur.