Woo hoo, we made it up alive! It wasn’t actually that bad, bloody steep, but worth it for the stunning views up here.
Also check out the Steam on the Outer Doom Crater! That’s right, this bad boy could blow at anytime..
Mount Doom Summit Crater
Woo hoo, we made it up alive! It wasn’t actually that bad, bloody steep, but worth it for the stunning views up here.
Looking Down Over the Tongariro Crossing
Whoa, what a view! Loving all the colours in this shot, the red volcanic crater, the white snow, the yellowy mountains in the distance and the blue sky :) Definitely makes the 2-3 hour side trip worthwhile. As a bonus, we were now out of sync with the main caterpillar train of folk on the crossing, so the rest of the day felt a bit less busy.
Massive Crater!
Huuuuuuuuuge crater, and we’re wondering across it. Sweet! All kinds of colours in the rocks across this network of volcanoes old and new. Some awesome shots to be had, and views to take in. Feels like we’re on another planet.
Mt Ngauruhoe Volcano aka Mt Doom
“Frodo we’ve made it! Give us the ring then….”,“I thought you had it?”
“Shit. I think i left it in the car.”
We’re here! At Lord of The Rings’s Mordor. We had to battle many an Orc on the path on the way up, as it’s Christmas and they’re all on their summer holidays.
I expected really over-the-top signage and gift shops selling hobbit feet shoes, Gandalf hats and rings-a-plenty, but not a sausage! It actually feels pretty remote and untouched. Glad its not been overdone or commercialised. In fact it’s barely mentioned. ( Maybe secretly I wanted my photo taken in an elf outfit for Xmas? ) ;)
Ps. I tried to climb up to the crater but chickened out a third of the way up, and pegged it back down! Well dodgy underfoot. Cookie and Eric had an awesome adventure though right to the top. Amazing!
Mount Ruapehu from Tama Lakes
The original plan was to climb this bad boy on Christmas Day, forecast for quite strong wind high up today, so we’re going to do it on Boxing Day instead.
Mum & Dad Climbing with Mt. Doom in the Background
I forgot to say – Nicky didn’t come with us today. Tomorrow we leave for 8 days solid kayaking down the Wanganui River, so she wants to be fully rested for that.
View at the top towards the Dome Shed
The plan was to get to Dome Tool Shed / Shelter before turning back, where apparently you can look down into the crater lake or something. But mum thought her knees wouldn’t hold out for much longer, so we called it a day here.
