In the fires of Mount Doom!
Got into Wellington after some delays a couple days ago and took a nice coach ride up to Taupo yesterday. It's on a huge lake (Lake Taupo) and has some beautiful scenery in addition to being a cool town.
Today I woke up at 5 to catch a bus up to Tongariro Alpine Crossing. It's an 19.4 Kilometer hike that goes over a ridge and saddle between two peaks (1 of which Mount Doom is based on) and then down around some volcanic lakes, hot springs, and finally into the hills and woods on the other side. You could also go up Mount Doom or the peak on the other side. The Mount Doom one looked a bit intense, so I enjoyed it from afar and did the other summit, which was around an additional 3 k round trip (so about 22.5 k/13.67 miles total).
We started out in some cool fog as the sun began to burn it off up above us. Hiked through some lava fields and up a huge series of stairs called "Devil's Staircase." Then through a crater on the saddle and up another somewhat strenuous ridge. From there I went on the side trail and got some nice views, then headed back and finished off the trip in about 6.5 hours total. And, lucky me (maybe), I got to see and hear a Tui (pictured above... not taken by my camera, because the one I took sucks) in the forest near the end of the trip.
Now I am a bit exhausted, understandably, and am going to have a nice, relaxing evening back in Taupo before catching a bus back to Wellington in the morning.
Back in Wellington I plan on doing the Te Papa museum and also my nerd-indulging Lord of the Rings tour :)
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