A hastily planned trip to New Zealand to visit the in-laws shortly before Christmas 2010, turned out to be the vacation of a lifetime for me. A photo-holic like me can really go crazy with the camera in a country with such natural beauty as NZ. And indeed that’s exactly what happened. The highlight of the entire trip though was the 20 km alpine trek across the volcanoes of the Tongariro National Park. We started the trek around 10 a.m and by the time we completed it about 8.5 hours later I had a pair of extremely sore legs, an experience unlike any other in my life and most importantly… some of the most gorgeous landscape photography I had ever undertaken, that had me exhilarated to the core. Here I attempt to virtually take you on that Alpine Crossing Trek… through my pictures. Click the pictures to see them in full screen (1280 px) size
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http://www.virtualoceania.net/newzealand/photos/volcanic/tongariro/060a.shtml
The lakes name is given on this page.
🙂
Thank you! 🙂
Thanks Anshum for taking us fellow trekkers down memory lane…..
Since the crossing, I have on numerous occasions got responses from non-crossers that question the need of slogging it out when far more vivid videos of the volcanoes are available to enjoy in the comfort of one’s living room.
What can I say? How does one explain the feeling? The pure simple exhilaration of walking amongst those sleeping giants, with the hot earth beneath one’s feet …. live …. wisps of sulphuric fumes …. the stark landscape against the backdrop of blue sky and crisp air…. no video or picture can capture that ….. for those who question the foolhardiness of making the trek, what can I say?
Great pics, bringing back lots of mmroeies from when I did’ the Tongariro in 2005.If you get the chance then I recommend climbing up to the top of Mount Ngauruhoe. It’s a tough climb up but the views are worth it (assuming the cloud clears for long enough to see) and the slide back down the volcano is quite exhilarating in itself and much, much quicker than climbing up!