Tongariro National Park

Tongariro National Park is situated about an hour’s drive south of Lake Taupo, and is home to three famous volcanoes: Mount Tongariro, the smallest; Mount Ruapehu, the largest; and Mount Ngauruhoe (arguably the most famous, since it served as Peter Jackson’s “Mount Doom” in the Lord of the Rings films). These three mountains are hugely important to the Maori people. In the late 1880s, the Maori gifted the three volcanoes to the government on the condition that the land be protected and conserved as sacred.

To the chagrin of my parents (and possibly to Matt), these volcanoes are quite active–so active that Mount Ruapehu erupted in 2006 and 2007, and there were warnings that it might erupt just last year.

Matt and I journeyed to Tongariro in search of the world’s best day hike—the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, a full-day adventure that scales 19km and takes travelers up the top of Tongariro, across the Emerald Lakes and gives stunning views of Mount Doom (Ngauruhoe) and Ruapehu. We were excited. We even booked two nights at the fanciest hotel in Tongariro National Park in order to ensure that our stay (which included Christmas Eve night) would be perfect: the Chateau Tongariro, featured below. It sits at the base of beautiful Ruapehu and is a beautiful example of pre-Depression-era construction and design. It provides a luxurious and modern experience while retaining the historic feels of the 1920s.

As we made the drive south to Tongariro, Matt and I noticed that it looked a bit . . . cloudy. We kept passing signs for the volcanoes and Tongariro National Park, but our view became dimmer and dimmer as we pressed on. The fog and clouds thickened so quickly that we could barely see in front of us, much less see the stunning mountains and resort. Upon arrival at the Chateau, a dismal hotel clerk informed us that the weather for the next five days was simply: fog.

Fog. Fog fog fog. Probably my least favorite word after this trip, as it forced us to rearrange all of our Tongariro hopes and dreams and well-drafted plans.

After we checked in for two nights, Matt and I eagerly ran to our hotel room, which we’d booked because of its views of Mount Ngauruhoe. Our view from the window: fog, fog, and more fog (and rabbits in the garden below!). I am particularly bad at letting things like this affect my mood, so I quickly sank into a semi-depression, imagining all the amazing things we were missing due to the foul weather. Matt, on the other hand, suggested we grab lunch at a local café to boost our moods, and it was during the lunch that we schemed the rest of our day.

We had been planning on taking the local chair lift ride to the top of one of the mountains, where there was a beautiful café overlooking Mount Ngauruhoe, so we jumped in the car and drove up the mountain to the chair lift. Our drive up the mountain was quite gloomy. We literally couldn’t see a thing in front of us, and Matt was doing his best to not drive us off the mountain. Right as we walked up to the counter to buy our tickets, the clerk informed us that she’d stopped selling chair lift tickets that day because there was, quite literally, nothing to see. She showed us a webcam from the top and my heart sank into my stomach: fog.

Our next idea: drive an hour north to see the Rangipo Desert, famous for being the backdrop for Orc battle scenes in Lord of the Rings. The drive itself was gloomy, eerie, and deserted, and so Matt gave me the chance to test out a new skill: driving on the opposite side of the road. About 5km in, I started panicking and pulled over, begging him to take the wheel again. We laughed at this, since Matt had already clocked about 1,000km in New Zealand driving by himself, and I could only stand to do five.

Despite the fog (and incoming rain), it was after the desert that we adopted the attitude: we’re here and we’re going to enjoy it, dammit, so we opted to do one of Tongariro’s famous “Short Walks”: the Taranki Falls Walk. Taranki Falls is a twenty-meter waterfall right in the middle of a two-hour walk through Tongariro. We started this journey in the pouring rain, determined to have fun and enjoy what we could see. Tongariro is truly spectacular even without mountain views. The flora is unlike anything I can describe, so I’ve added photos below: it’s eerie, desert-like, but with odd bursts of rainforest greens and reds. The landscape spread out before us with patches of wheat-colored barren thicket, fiery orange and red boulders, ancient black lava fields, sparse, choppy pine trees, neon-green palm trees, crimson pohutukawas, and lots of fog. Even though we’d come to see Mount Doom, we were quite pleased to tramp through this environment and pretend like we were Sam and Frodo running through Mordor.

The walk to the falls was extremely pleasant, as the sun started to clear some of the fog and clouds and the temperature rose. My hopes for a beautiful, sunny day on the morrow soared.

On Christmas Eve, I woke up like a kid on Christmas Day: excited to tear open the blinds and see Mount Doom shining at me in the background. Instead, I was greeted with even more FOG. It was worse than the day before. I couldn’t even see the bunnies in the garden below! Frantic, we rushed downstairs to ask the concierge our options. Could we still do the Tongariro Crossing?? With a grim expression, he informed us that it was supposed to storm all day, and weather conditions were pretty poor for attempting such a hike. It was then that Matt and I hatched a plan: we were going to just eat it, and drive to our next location one day early, because it was too sad to while away our time in a gorgeous national park with absolutely nothing to see or do. With that decision, Matt and I booked an extra night in Wellington and jumped in the car to head to the southernmost tip of the North Island.

On our way out of Tongariro, however, we stopped twice to do some more “Short Walks”: the first to Tawhai Falls, which was used as the filming location for Gollum fishing while Faramir and his archers watch. We also hiked to Mangawhero Falls, another LOTR filming spot. During both of these hikes, the rain drenched us and we were soaked and freezing by the end.