Tongariro National Park cover an area of 800 square kilometres in the centre of the North Island of New Zealand. It is a landscape of diverse natural beauty dominated by three active volcanoes, Mt. Tongariro, Mt Ngauruhoe and Mt Ruapehu (highest peak in the North Island at 2797 metres).
The Park's volcanoes lie along a straight line at the southern end of the Taupo Volcanic Zone, a great chain of active volcanoes that extends northeast through lakes Tauop and Rotorua all the way to White Island in the Bay of Plenty. All three volcanoes in the Park have erupted in historic times, Mt Ruapehu most recently in 1995.
The mountains are sacred to Maori and were forbiden ground to the early European colonists, but in 1887, in an act of great wisdom, Te Heuheu Tukkino IV, chief of the Ngati Tuwharetoa, gifted the mountain tops to the nation so that they would be protected for all time. Thus Tongariro National Park was born, the first to be established in New Zealand. In 1991 the Park became a World Heritage Area in recognition of its unique natural and cultural features. Today, large numbers of visitors follow in Maori footsteps as they enjoy the Park's spectacular walkways. During winter and spring many more visitors descend on the area for the excellent skiing at Mt Ruapehu's three skifields.
This is a fold out postcard, when you open it, it has a panoramic view of all thee volcanoes with their heights and all the information I typed above.
Photograpy: G Coates & J Wang.
2010
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