On our further travels we stopped at the Tongariro Pass. This had been planned from when we first arrived in New Zealand. The pass was used as a location for Mount Doom in the 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy. We decided not to complete the whole crossing, we had no way to get back to the van as the end car park is 35km away, so instead we walked the first 2/3rds to the Blue Lake before returning on the same route. This meant we actually completed a lot more than the 19.5 km walk with lots of ups and downs instead of a decent after the Blue Lake. On our walk I discover a left over strange creature from the trilogy, not sure what it is, an hobbit maybe, but it was very rude and didn't like its picture being taken. See below.
Sarah at the foot of Mt. Doom
The caldera at the top of the Devils Staircase. Was there a moon landing here?
You can see in the distance on the left of the picture the Blue Lake our lunch and turning point for the day. A very steep decent (and later acsent) with skid, scramble. The Emerald Lakes in the right foreground are so called because they are bright green and similar to those found in Yellowstone across the Pacific in the US.
The following day while travelling to Waitomo we took this picture of the two mountains and the crossing from some miles away.
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