Never hike 17km after a heavy night on the beer!

  Taupo, New Zealand
Thursday, February 1, 2007

Taupo - Located at the north-east corner of Lake Taupo. There's great views over the lake and the volcanic mountains of Tongariro National Park to the south. 

After a heavy night on the beer and 4 hours sleep we had to get up at 5am (yes....5am!) to do the Tongariro Crossing, which is a 17km hike that takes you over a 2,200m mountain (Mount Tongariro). It's funny to climb 2,200m before breakfast. But is wasn't so funny when we got to the top only to realise that we were not going to get to see any of the amazing views because of the cloud cover :-( 

Lord of the Rings fans will know Mount Tongariro better as Mordor. Mount Tongariro is one of 3 dormant volcanoes in Tongariro National Park. Each have amazingly colourful pools in the volcanic craters at their summits due to the mix of various minerals thrown up due to volcanic activity.

We also went to see Huka Falls, which are the most powerful falls I have ever seen.....220,000 liters per seconds apparently!!! The water is an amazing bright blue colour.


Taupo - Simon Conquers Mount Tongariro