Whakapapa Village, New Zealand Travel Blogs

Snowboarding Attempt Number 2
Jun 25, 2005 (10 photos)

... cloudy and a bit drizzly. We drove up to the ski field which was about 12km from Discovery Lodge, and 6km from Whakapapa Village. We bought the Discovery Package which included snowboard and boots hire as well as lift passes. I also hired some waterproof ...

Enter the fridge
Aug 23, 2004 (31 photos)

After a reluctant departure from the Barrier about a month ago, I headed south, into the snow. First stop was Ohuakune in the Tongariro National Park. The lovely family I was staying with on the Barrier invited me down with them to try out some ...

Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way...
Dec 25, 2008 (32 photos)

... in Tongariro NP were we stayed on the tent site next to a hostel. The nex day we started walking the Northern Circuit from Whakapapa (pronounced fa-ka-pa-pa). The weather was perfect for the walk, it has to be clear and sunny cause you walk in 1400 m ...

Mount Doom!!!
Jan 1, 2009 (25 photos)

We drove up to Whakapapa village and then beyond there to the Whakapapa ski field which was a major location for the Lord of the Rings movie, namely Mordor and Mount Doom. As we hadn't seen Mt Ruapehu without snow cover before it became really apparent ...

Tongariro Crossing
Jan 4, 2009 (13 photos)

... over, that it was the site for several Lord of the Rings scenes.    We were staying in a small ski village called Whakapapa, which was home to a very cool Chateau built in 1929 with a 9 hole golf course.  Tongariro national park is ...

East cape to Tapauo
Mar 12, 2007 (3 photos)

Well we made it from the east cape to a little town called Gisborn, we had a full english brekky as we were so hungry, after a little to chill we headed off to a small town whataupoko where we stayed in a very nice hostel in the middle of no where, there ...

New Zealand
Mar 15, 2007 (3 photos)

Having a fair amount of fun in New Zealand, though the weather has put a dampner on it!! Yesterday we went zorbing, which is just.. rolling down a hill in a big wet plastic ball thing!! SO much fun!! I was so scared to do it, but you can just like sit ...

All action
Apr 1, 2007

Wow, I can't believe I'm writing this on my last day in NZ... we've finally come full circle and are back in Auckland desperately stuffing stuff we've accumulated into bags. The last few weeks since we finished woofing have been action-packed to say the ...

Whakapapa and 'Tramping' in the Snow
Aug 30, 2008 (65 photos)

28/08/08 Early start ready for our walk to Taranaki Falls and back, there was so much snow that all the other walks were closed off including the infamous Tongariro Crossing. There were spectacular views of Mt Ruapehu, Mt Tongariro and Mt Ngauruhoe. For ...

Whakapapa
Feb 14, 2009 (10 photos)

Dissabte XIV - II - MMIX Seran les 8.30am quan esperarem el nostre guia al lloc acordat. Primerament ens dirigirem cap al sud, prop de Turoa, on es van enregistrar escenes de LOTR basicament Ithilien. El temps es fantastic, fa un dia assoleiat ...

Walking on Volcanoes - Tongariro
Feb 28, 2009 (25 photos)

... the National Park and, in 1991, was declared a World Heritage Site.    We drove to the trekking and ski resort, Whakapapa Village, in the heart of the park, on the slopes of Mt Ruapehu and 1200 metres above sea level.  We took a slightly ...

Snowboarding on Mount Ruapehu
Oct 11, 2005 (3 photos)

... so excited to be going snowboarding for a few days. We stopped off for fuel and supplies on the way and arrived at the whakapapa village holiday park at about 5.30pm, where it was freezing cold!! As it was cloudy and had been raining we couldn't see any ...

Tongariro Crossing
Jan 3, 2007 (5 photos)

Yeah so last night we stayed in Whakapapa Village which is situated in the Tongariro National Park which was the first National Park in New Zealand. With its towering active volcanoes, Tongarero is supposed to be one of NZs most spectacular parks and best ...

Im Schatten des Schicksalsberges
Sep 11, 2007 (15 photos)

... in den 20´er Jahren ausbrach. Um 5 Uhr aufgestanden waren wir noch ein wenig müde, als uns das Taxi in Whakapapa Village abgeholt hat. Mit Steigeisen ausgestattet hat uns das Taxi zum Start des Tongariro Crossing gebracht. Die Tour über die aktiven ...

What an interesting smell you've found
Jul 17, 2007 (6 photos)

Somehow sleep well despite the heavy rain overnight and after leaving the campsite, we drive back across to Tongariro to see if the weather has cleared. On the way back across it's brighter than yesterday and I'm struck by how much it looks like Scotland ...

Tongariro Crossing
Oct 19, 2005 (12 photos)

Yes a lovely early start today for our hike across several volcanoes and a rather different landscape to any I have seen before. The Tongariro Crossing is described as 'one of the best one-day hikes in the world' (by whom I couldn't tell you) and the ...

Mittelerde
Sep 11, 2007

Hier bestiegen wir einige Vulkane und machten uns ein Bild von der Schlacht der Orcs. Genauer nachzulesen unter: http://www.travelpod.com/members/neuseeland2007

Taupo and Tongariro (Mordor)
Nov 2, 2008 (4 photos)

... had a more sedate drive down to Lake Taupo.  It provided us a good stopover on the way to Whakapapa and gave us a good opportunity to enjoy New Zealand's largest lake for the evening. We stayed in a funny little place called Bradshaws, which was a ...

The central huge volcanos
Feb 8, 2009 (19 photos)

... of the Rings.  It's very desolate here and reminds us of Hawaii, but with different vegetation.  We made a stop at the Whakapapa Village to ask about weather and hiking information. We got a suggestion to go up a ski gondola and do a hike around ...

Tongariro National Park, North Island, New Zealand
Jan 23, 2009

... unforgettably fragrant, and Sarah's Peruvian altitude sickness was stunningly colourful, no country has consistently overwhelmed our senses like New Zealand.  Before closing off the New Zealand chapter of our journey, however, I suppose I should hit ...

The one ring to rule them all ...
Feb 27, 2008 (2 photos)

At last we found some sun in Taupo - a town built around a beautiful humongous lake, which you could swim in if hypothermia takes ya fancy and where you could dabble in a bit of golf or do a skydive.  Now for years I had been saying to Stanley ...

Heading for the slopes
Sep 28, 2007 (20 photos)

Headed for the mountains to do some skiing , we got there nice and early to make a day of it. The slopes were quite busy but once we had a few practice runs to get the nack again, had a wicked time. Was different from mountains we have skiied on ...

Tongariro National Park
Feb 24, 2009 (242 photos)

... we were back in Asia), but the location was superb, right by a river and some very high cliffs. We only reached Whakapapa village in Tongariro NP around lunch time the next day. With its towering active volcanoes, Tongariro is definitelly one of NZ's most ...

The Tongariro Crossing
Jan 15, 2008 (42 photos)

... a hot sun with our feet in icy mountain water - bliss! Monday 14th January This morning we took the 9am bus from Whakapapa Village, where we've been camping in Marmoset the Marmot, to the nearby National Park Village, where our next bus was due ...

More mountains
May 20, 2008

Ruapehu, Ngaruhoe

Tongariro Northern Circuit/Around the Mountain
Jan 13, 2008 (8 photos)

... living in Edmonton!  In bed early again, knowing that we had around a 9hr hiking day tomorrow to get ourselves back to Whakapapa Village, and a unknown shortcut above Blyth Hut. January 17, up at you guessed it, 5am!  On the trail at 5:45am, ...

The Tongariro crossing
May 26, 2009 (11 photos)

The Tongariro and Ngauruhoe are active volcanoes, so an ideal place to cross the mountains. When you take a guide, make sure he knows the surrounding or takes full bateries in his GPS..

Whakapapa
Mar 3, 2008 (4 photos)

... really a place called Taupo but it is quite a long drive so we decided to break up the journey and take a detour to the Whakapapa Village which is a tiny village that sits at the bottom of 3 active volcanoes.  They were a pretty amazing sight and you ...

Rotorua and Taupo
Nov 14, 2005 (5 photos)

... Waikato River are an amazingly clear turquoise blue. At the moment we're in the heart of the Tongariro National Park, in Whakapapa, sitting out rotten weather in the van. Actually, Eifion is underneath the van carrying out further repairs! We're hoping ...

Mt. Ruapehu
Jan 18, 2008 (10 photos)

The weather was looking good so we decided to dayhike up Mt. Ruapehu.  It is the highest point in the North Island and includes three major peaks: Tahurangi (2,797 m), Te Heuheu (2,755 m) and Paretetaitonga (2,751 m) and is one of the world's most ...