Mt. Doom

For all you Lord of The Rings fans, this entry is for you!

It's called the Tongariro Crossing. Three mountains/volcanoes all lined up in one row and in between all of them are glacier and crater lakes. This was the scene of Mordor or more specifically Mt. Doom. Though it doesn't look exactly the same as its covered in snow these days, it's shape resembles the exact location where the ring of power was created.

Folks, forget the fact that this is New Zealand's pride and joy. Forget that this is considered the greatest day hike in the WORLD! This is where THE RING of power was created!

Okay, so I digress. Though it is one of the greatest day hikes to trek through, we were 1 month too late in this journey as winter conditions did not allow for people to step foot on the famous track. Nonetheless, there was still plenty to see in this area and being blessed with yet another spectacular day of sun, we weren't about to sulk over this oversight.

We ended up doing another hike that took about 6 hours long to a crater lake in between Mt. Doom and it's partnering mountain. The entire time we did the hike, I felt as if we were Frodo and Sam making the journey back as the terrain had several similarities to the movie and I felt it was neccessary to carry a "make shift" sword just in case we ran into Orcs.