Mount Doom

Today we left Waitomo and headed for Tongiraro National Park, home of three volcanoes.  The drive was so pretty, flatlands, with the volcanoes rising out of nowhere, looming in the sky.  There are no grocery stores in the national park, so we stopped at one 40 minutes away, on the way in, to stock up on all the food and snacks we would need for the few days.  As we approached to national park, the volcanoes grew larger and larger.  One of them is actually Mount Doom from Lord of the Rings!  We took plenty of pictures and headed for the lodge.

 

Before descending into the National Park

  
The hostel we're staying at in Erua, the tiniest town ever, is pretty nice.  It's fairly new, clean, and the staff is friendly; we were upgraded to a large unit with bathroom, kitchen, and television because they liked us, I guess!  It's pretty cold in this part of the country, and warm wood fireplaces are keeping the place nice and toasty.  We relaxed for a bit, watching movies in their comfy lounge, and eating our snacks.  Originally we were planning on taking a 9 hour (just walking, not including stops) to the Tongiraro Crossing, but we've since decided to spend the days hanging out in the lodge, doing some much needed relaxing (no internet or phone here), and since we have the car, driving the perimeter of the park for some lazy tourist picture-taking!