Tongariro

Today I'll show you some pictures of the Tongariro National Park, in the center of the North Island. You might be fed up with so many landscape pictures right now, but it's what New Zealand is all about: national parks. And it has to be said: Kiwi's really look after their natural heritage. The Department of Conservation (DOC) must employ thousands of people because every town of considerable size has its own DOC site that is responsible for the closest national park. All walking trails are in impeccable state, so you won't ever get lost when you go hiking (or tramping as they call it in NZ), there are plenty of shelters in the parks and toilets (and sometimes showers) at the entrance are always super clean. 

Tongariro NP is one of the oldest national parks in the world and is home to three active volcanoes Ruapehu, Ngaruhoe and Tongariro. Pretty cool names, no? They are of Maori origin and here in New Zealand, there are numerous places with beautiful sounding names, some being real tongue twisters. We camped in a place called Totaranui, you can go skiing at the slopes in Whakapapa or Wanaka, there is Thurangaomoana, Kihikihi, Kiriwhakapapa, Ruakokoputuna,....and so on!

Back to Tongariro now. Two of these volcanoes Ruapehu and Ngaruhoe were used to represent Mount Doom in Lord of the Rings. They have been combined, one of the reasons being the fact that the top of Ngaruhoe (in the first and last picture) is sacred to Maori and they didn't allow Peter Jackson to film it.