Vulcanoes in the Mist

One of the most beautiful hikes you can do in New Zealand should be the Alpine Crossing along the Tongariro National Park. The crossing takes normally some 7-9 hours and leads you up to the craters between Mt. Tongariro and Mt. Ngauruhoe (also known as Mt. Doom in Lord of the Rings). Both are active vulcanoes but quite calm at the moment. Around the craters there are some vulcanic activities though like the typical sulphurous smell and beautiful colours .. the latter you can see in good weather I guess. During the day when we did the crossing there was fog, storm and horizontal rain ... and we ran over it in 5,5 h! Anyway a great experience, especially walking along a crater and being not able to see but a few meters into it!

Drosera spathulata

„Eruptions can create pyroclastic flows – very hot clouds of ash, rock and gas that move down the slopes of the volcano. They travel very quickly at more than 100 km/h. A pyroclastic flow in 1975 formed the black rocks you are now standing on.”

Some German travelers in the fog walking behind us over along the edge of the crater. The yellow and and red colors on the left side are sulfurous compounds.

When descending and coming out of the clouds, the weather suddenly changed: It got warm, no rain anymore - even a little sun!