In Search of Mount Doom

We are missing our Morgan today.  Near the place where we camped last night, we discovered a redwood forest.  This morning we stopped by to hike one of its trails.  The Whakarewarewa Forest national park is known for having the longest living tree walk, traversing about a half mile through this beautiful redwood forest.  Morgan plans to live in a tree house one day.  We do miss her sweet face!

Entrance to New Zealand's longest tree walk 

New Zealand's Whakarewarewa tree walk

While we didn’t take the tree walk, we did meander through the redwood forest.  The trees here are much like those along the Pacific West in the U.S., however, the forest floor is not so lush and tropical as ours.  The trees, however, are just as lovely.  It felt great to stretch our legs.

We drove straight through the middle of New Zealand’s north island, along its geothermal corridor.  We passed geysers and steaming fissures.  Because of our time crunch to make the ferry, however, we didn’t stop to see much. 

We had discovered in one of our travel brochures that Mount Ngauruhoe with its volcanic landscape was portrayed as Mount Doom in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.  The skies were heavy with clouds, but we did manage to catch a snapshot of most of the mountain. 

Mount Doom from the Lord of the Rings trilogy

Tonight we sit in the free Simpsons Domain campground, just north of Hunterville.  It is little more than a parking lot with an outhouse, but the scenery is lovely and the temperature welcoming.  We feel truly blessed.  Tomorrow we drive on to Wellington to spend the night before our early morning ferry crossing to the south island.

Our New Zealand home-away-from-home camper

Free camping... New Zealand style