New Zealand Road Trip

Tongariro NP

Ngauruhoe and Ruapehu

Ngauruhoe with its head in the clouds

Tongariro and Ngauruhoe

Tongariro "Crossing" - climbing Tongariro and Ngauruhoe

Ruapehu

Taranaki from 150km away!

Setting off first thing in the morning - we were the second party on the track from the car park

Rachel approaching Mangatepopo Saddle

At the saddle

Ngauruhoe

Crossing the massive expanse of the South Crater

South Crater and Ngauruhoe

Rachel and Tom

Looking back to Mangatepopo Saddle, South Crater and Ngauruhoe

Ngauruhoe

Alpine Buttercup (Ranunculus sp)

Blue Lake, in the volcanic flying rock zone

Ridges

South Crater and Ngauruhoe

Rachel at the summit of Tongariro

Tom and Rachel at the Tongariro Summit, with Ngauruhoe and Ruapehu in the background

Out of the wind at the summit

Summitters on the approach ridge

Mt Doom!

Tom at morning tea

Climbers are little specks on the face of Ngauruhoe

Red Crater

Rachel descending to the Emerald Lakes, leaving the hordes at the top of the hill behind

Emerald Lakes

Walkers on the ridge leading to the Emerald Lakes

Oh crap! I'm in the Volcanic Flying Rock Zone!

South Crater and Tongariro

Rachel setting off up Ngauruhoe, a very loose scree climb

Just waiting for all the rocks to come tumbling down!

Rachel at the Ngauruhoe crater, Ruapehu in the background

Ngauruhoe crater

Circumnavigating the crater

However, the crater is not the real summit, so we go "tobottoming" down the snow patch to gain the next ridge...

...and climb up to the real summit, which hardly anyone goes to. Ruapehu and the Tama Lakes in the background

Rachel on the summit of Ngauruhoe

Near the summit are numerous volcanic vents emitting steam that you walk through

Rachel descending the long long scree ski slope

Cliffs on the track in the upper Mangatepopo Valley

Soda Springs, below Tongariro

Mangatepopo Valley