WITH only a couple of days left to explore Lake Taupo, I jumped in my hire car this morning and drove the couple of hours south to visit Tongariro National Park and the three active volcanoes that sit within the boundary of this UNESCO World Heritage site.
Tongariro was New Zealand’s first national park, and only the fourth in the world, so it's a special place.
Mt Ruapehu is one of the volcanic peaks inside the park – the local hotel manager told me that while it hasn’t erupted since 1993, it did have ``a wee burp’’ a couple of years back – and the settlements that sit below the summit are constantly on alert in case a shudder causes a mud slide.
The Whakapapa and Turoa ski fields sit on the sides of Mt Ruapehu, making it New Zealand’s largest ski area, and it was very cool to walk on the side of an active volcano as I explored the village.
