Tongariro National Park - Taupo

We had driven straight from Wellington up the middle of the island to get to the Tongariro National Park as we wanted to do the crossing. But as it turned out once we got there we realised this wasnt going to happen as the snow had arrived just before us and cut off the path!
Snow was everywhere and even though it was amazing to look at we were gutted that it was closed so the Mordor mountain (Mt Doom) crossing from LOR would have to wait to another day!

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Instead we opted for the walks that were still ok but we were warned that we needed to be back by mid afternoon before the next big snowfall was due...
We managed to go trekking for about 2-3 hours to the Taranaki waterfalls at the base of the mountain, it was clear enough that morning and the scenery was spectacular and even though Ger is the big LOR fan the mt doom mountain looked very impressive!

From Tongariro we drove north to Lake taupo as we wanted to get back down the mountains before the snow came... so we left the Whakapapa village and headed back onto the thermal highway..
Taupo was a lovely stop, nice quaint shops all set around the huge lake - biggest in NZ..We stayed the night here and got to stock up on beer, check mail, and go shopping! NZ is famed for its wool; mohair, merino possum etc so i wasnt leaving without some samples!!
The following morning we made a big dent in the credit card before leaving but you would only be there once was my moto....

We headed north out of Taupo then and had a list of places we wanted to see on the way to Roturua. First stop was the Huka Falls - a massive amount of water that was so powerful, it was amazing to watch...

Just next to the falls was an area called "Craters of the moon". The so called craters were brilliant as they looked exactly like craters - the smell was horrendous though!
Basically you walked around this area (about 5 fields in size) and everywhere you looked there were these huge holes with steam rising out from them and they all made gurgling, hissing noises too....It looked like they were small volcanos about to erupt.. well cool!

We drove on towards Roturua stopping again at a Lava glass making company to watch and sample their stuff..

Just before we reached Roturua we stopped for lunch in the van just beside some very active mud pools!
these things stunk and in hindsight not the best place for eating lunch, but we could have stayed there all day watching them. The whole place was just boiling and bubbling away and all around us they would explode sending mud flying in all directions. The noises they made were class it was like one massive farting cushion - a smell i couldnt blame Ger for this time!!