Tramping! Mt Ruapehu and Tongariro National Park NZ

This weekend my wife Bonny and I decided to go tramping (hiking in New Zealand). We booked a room at Chateau Tongariro in Tongariro National Park. We arrived on Saturday to a misty,cloudy, windy day and wondered what all the fuss was about. We had a wonderful dinner that night and went to bed early. The next day we awoke to a brilliant blue sky with the sun coming up over a conical volcano Mt Ngauruhoe.

We now knew what all the fuss was about. We had a wonderful breakfast and ventured

out to the amazing view of the sunlit snow covered peak of Mt Ruapehu.

We packed our lunch and warm clothes and set off for Taranaki Falls. We hiked along a stream in the sunlit forrest and thought what a beautiful country New Zealand can be on a sunny day. Forrest bathing is my favorite sport so I was in heaven and so was Bonny!

Beautiful Bonny

We arrived at Taranaki Falls after about a hour of tramping and what a magnificent site of water cascading over a cliff into a crystal clear pool below. Paradise found!

Then it was off through a barren moon scape for a two hour trek to Tama Lakes a high altitude  turquoise lake.

 At Tama lake we had lunch and a nice chat with a New Zealand  journalist who had been assigned to cover the United States from Washington DC. Then it was another 3 hour tramp down the mountain to the Chateau Tongariro.

We were tired trampers after a 17 K trek but happy and satisfied that we had achieved our goal.
So we set off back home with this epic view of the late afternoon snow covered Mt Ruapehu. I love New Zealand. Kia Ora!