January 2014

Just finished a beautiful trek around the highest mountain of New Zealand's North Island, Mt. Ruapehu in Tongariro National Park. This mountain still has glaciers and snow throughout the year.

I was very lucky with the weather; only a very slight drizzle during the last few hours of the final day, the remainder being sunny and dry. Still, the weather was very different each day: one very windy day, another rather cold day, and one quite warm.

It took me five days to complete the 70 km circuit around the mountain. Though I met people who did it in three days and even in as little as one...