Tongariro National Park

Thought we'd include a picture of our 4-berther (roomy yet cosy?)
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Next we drove up the Kapiti Coast towards Tongariro National Park. The road follows the ocean for a while and then turns inland past rolling green hills and farmland, becoming flatter as you drive north. When you finally see the snowy peaks of the volcanoes sticking out into the sky, you are aware of something really powerful. It really isn’t surprising that this was such a sacred area for the Maori people. The 3 peaks stretch north pointing to the direction of the faultline which created them. The whole area was the first in New Zealand to be given the status of National Park in 1887 when a famous Maori chief had the insight to realize that the only way to stop the whites from ruining their sacred landscape was to donate it in whole to the people of New Zealand. We stayed in a little town called Ohakune, which is really geared up in the winter for the skiing season, and pretty quiet in the summer.

Mount Ruapehu (a pretty active volcanoe in this area)
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We drove up Mount Ruapehu as far as we could, about 18kms, first through dense forest and then climbing steeper and steeper watching the landscape change dramatically from woodland and beautiful tree ferns to completely bare rocks where no plants can grow at all, or even get a grip on the stony ground. It is an eerie landscape, quiet and almost lifeless. Luca and Megan are fascinated with volcanoes, lava, explosions, magma (by fascinated I really mean in the same way they are about sharks, i.e. pretty shit scared!). If Lyle is reading this then to get an idea of what it looks like, it was where Mordor and Ithilien were filmed from the Lord of the Rings films. There are amazing walks of all lengths, some which take you to the very rim of the crater, but they are too hard for the kids yet. We instead went for a 2 hour walk to some lovely waterfalls. Lots of uphill climbing, some moaning (fair enough!), but we made it and it was worth it (the kids agree, by the way!).