Mount Ruapehu

Today we drove down to Mount Ruapehu in Tongariro National Park.  We wanted to take the kids on their first "hike" (I really should call it a "tramp" as that's how it's referred to here) in NZ.  We've done lots of walking but nothing too strenuous.  The kids did great!  It was only 1hour and 20 minutes but we climbed 400 meters.  The reward (except for me and one of the kids as I'm pretty terrified of heights) at the end as a chairlift ride all the way down.

A view of Lake Taupo from the south end on our drive there.

Mt. Ruapehu.  These beautiful grasses are all over - love the long tufts!

What a barren landscape!  The first bit was on a track...

Then it got really rocky and we were clambering over boulders.  The kids just loved it though!  I wasn't too optimistic of things going really well (aka complaining) for a couple of them but they loved this.

Where we came from...

And up we went...

Little bits of life...

Lava rock...

This piece looks like it's going to fall...

Our view from 3/4 of the way up...

And from the top...

Mt. Doom's tip was hidden...

We could have hiked a little further for more 360 views but we didn't want to push our luck - ha!

Here's some info from Wikipedia: "Mount Ruapehu is an active stratovolcano at the southern end of the Taupo Volcanic Zone in New Zealand."

Glad I didn't think too hard about that one as we were up there.  The kids and I will have to look up exactly what that means tomorrow.  We have to do some school work ;)