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Yesterday evening we watched the sun set over Mount Dome (Lord of the Rings Mountain alias Mt Ngauruhoe) from the lounge of Hotel Skotel.Prior to that we passed some time in the lounge of Chateau Tongariro enjoying a little aperitif!!!Once it was dusk we headed along the road to our tent. Packed our rucksacks for the pending walk, made our sandwiches and tucked into our sleeping bags early. It was pretty chilly because we are at 1200m here.Up, breakfasted and away on the shuttle bus by 8am for our Tongariro Alpine Crossing.It was 19 km long, but quite spectacular.We literally walked through or around the craters of 3 volcanoes, almost completely circumnavigating Mount Dome.It took us 7 hours, including our picnic stops.Photos don't really show the magnitude of the place, it was a tiring day but well worth the effort...I don't think we will walk anywhere tomorrow!!!In fact we did drive the 200metres to the hotel for a well deserved pr dinner lager this evening.It's a beautifully sunny evening, and has been lovely all day, we've been so lucky with the weather.We walked for a while with a localman who has been waiting 3 summers for the perfect day to take this walk. Will probably head off to Napier tomorrow, taking a slow drive with refreshment and sightseeing stops en route.
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