January 29, 2014
It is known locally as Mount Ngauruhoe, but was made famous in The Lord
of The Rings movies posing as Mount Doom. It
was chosen because of its bare volcanic sides and symmetrical cone. It is 2,291 Meters and is snow covered in the
winter. Ngauruhoe and its close neighbor
Tongariro are popular ski resorts in the winter and just as popular in the
summer for tramping.
Our tramp today took us to the alpine lakes Upper Tama and Lower Tama. The trip was 17 kilometers return and took us
5½ hours. We started in Whakapapa,
parked Lucky at the trail head, packed a lunch and off we went. The track starts with a slowly winding path
through what they call tussock country and alpine herb fields.
Mount Tongariro in the background. |
We had a beautiful sunny day so slowly the
sweaters came off as we walked up and down over the hills. By the time we reached the Lower Tama Lake the
wind had come up and we started putting clothes back on.
Upper Lake Tama |
Lower Tama Lake, sitting at 1240 meters is startlingly beautiful with bright turquoise water. These lakes were
created when a fiery volcanic explosion took place blowing a hole in the rock. The craters have since filled with water and
the color is created by the minerals that have washed into it. To see the Upper Tama Lake you have to climb
to the viewpoint at 1440 meters. It was
quite a windy day with gusts up to 50 km per hour. As we walked along the ridge, you felt like
you could be blown away.
We did the return trip via the loop to see the Taranaki waterfalls. I think this is the fourth or fifth waterfall
viewing we have done so far on this trip.
They are all pretty much the same, but all very different.
Taranaki Falls |
Then it was back to Lucky and off to a campsite for dinner and another
cozy evening. In the morning we started
planning the days’ adventures. We plan
to take the ferry to the South Island on February 4th so we still
have some days to meander our way down to Wellington.
Guidebooks and maps to plan the day! |
Love to see the photos and read about your adventures.
ReplyDeleteCousin Marianne
How did you all like the Lucky Chaser? We will be there next week and that will be our home for 8 days. Any recommended places to charter a sailboat, we are sailors and see that it would be a beautiful place to sail. We sail here in San Diego and up and down the west coast..
ReplyDelete