Tongariro National Park
Călin / 15 September 2022
I spent the week of September 12-16 on a retreat at Chateau Tongariro.
The Chateau is a nice hotel in the Whakapapa village, a beautiful setting surrounded by mountain peaks: Ruapehu and Ngauruhoe are made famous by the Lord of the Rings series.
Most of it was work, but we did get to enjoy a hike from the Chateau to Lower Tama Lake. This was only part of the track, only a couple of hours (each way), just enough for an afternoon in nature.
We started when it was snowing, which was quite fun!
It didn’t take much for the sun to come out and for us to enjoy some really spectacular views. The only “bad” thing was that I couldn’t decide which mountain was more photogenic, Ruapehu or Ngauruhoe. With the changing weather, each of them strived to create amazing views.
The rain was never too far away, but it let us enjoy the lake and the Taranaki Falls, and we got some rainbows too!
Mount Ngauruhoe in the sunset is one of my favorites.
