Our first day out, we hiked Mt. Tuahara. The face of the volcano was a dense rain forest that consisted of pine trees, ferns, and tropical palms. Definitely one of the strangest but most beautiful mixes of plants we've ever seen. It seemed like it wouldn't be surprising to see a dinosaur go walking across the trail.
The next day, we set out on the Tongariro Crossing, one of New Zealand's Great Walks. The walk took us about 9 hours. At the mid point, we reached the Red Crater (below) and Emerald Lakes. It was gorgeous!! The travel center at Lake Taupo advised us not to hike the crossing without ice axes and crampons (both of which we didn't have...) but we decided to set out anyway and see how bad things were. We met a school teacher on the way up who said that this was the least amount of snowfall he's seen on the Crossing in ten years. We shouldn't have been able to make the crossing, but thanks to little snow fall early in their winter, we could do it! It was amazing. I did wish, though, that Chacos had a front on them when we reached the snow packs at the top of the crater. Next year, I'm buying Keens!
Red Crater
Emerald Lakes
Where's Waldo??
The last big hike we made was back at the Crossing, hiking to Taranaki Falls. The falls were beautiful, but even more spectacular was the view of Mt. Ruapehu, all covered in snow.
Any way you walk around the Crossing, you're bound to see the infamous "Mt. Doom" used in the movie "Lord of the Rings."
We're in the Philippines now, and everything is wonderful! We really can't see any damage from the Typhoon where we are at. It's HOT and humid, but seeing our friends here is wonderful! Pics from Hong Kong coming soon....
Kaycie and Merrill
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