Explore Central North Island
New Zealand’s highly developed network of national parks owes much to Te Heu Heu Tukino IV, the Tuwharetoa chief who, in the Pakeha land-grabbing climate of the late nineteenth century, recognized that the only chance his people had of keeping their sacred lands intact was to donate them to the nation – on condition that they could not be settled or spoiled. His 1887 gift formed the core of the country’s first major public reserve, Tongariro National Park, which became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1991 due to its unique landscape and cultural significance (see The Maori mountain legends). In the north a small, outlying section of the park centres on Mount Pihanga and the tiny Lake Rotopounamu, but most visitors head straight for the main body of the park, dominated by the three great volcanoes which rise starkly from the desolate plateau: the broad-shouldered ski mountain, Ruapehu (2797m); its squatter sibling, Tongariro (1968m); and, wedged between them, the conical Ngauruhoe (2287m).
Within the boundaries of the park is some of the North Island’s most striking scenery – a beautiful mixture of semi-arid plains, steaming fumaroles, crystal-clear lakes and streams, virgin rainforest and an abundance of ice and snow. The more forbidding volcanic areas were used as locations for Mordor and Mount Doom in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. All of this forms the backdrop to two supremely rewarding tramps, the one-day Tongariro Alpine Crossing and the three- to four-day Tongariro Northern Circuit, one of New Zealand’s Great Walks. The undulating plateau to the west of the volcanoes is vegetated by bushland and golden tussock, while on the eastern side the rain shadow of the mountains produces the Rangipo Desert. Although this is not a true desert, it is still an impressively bleak and barren landscape, smothered by a thick layer of volcanic ash from the 186 AD Taupo eruption. Mount Ruapehu frequently bursts into life (most recently 1995, 1996 and 2007), occasionally emptying its crater lake down the side of the mountain in muddy deluges known as lahars. In 2011 Mount Ruapehu’s Volcanic Alert Level was elevated to level 1 (signs of volcanic unrest), but at the time of writing it was not affecting visitors. Keep tabs on its status with DOC and the local i-SITE office.
The northern approach to the region is through Turangi, which – though it lacks the mountain feel of the service town of National Park and the alpine Whakapapa Village, 1200m up on the flanks of Ruapehu – makes a good base both for the Tongariro tramps and for rafting and fishing the Tongariro River. The southern gateway is Ohakune, a more aesthetically pleasing place than National Park but distinctly comatose outside the ski season. Heading south, the Army Museum at Waiouru marks the southern limit of the Volcanic Plateau, which tails off into the pastoral lower half of the region set around the agricultural town of Taihape, home to the North Island’s highest bungy jump.
Pretty much everyone comes to the park either to ski or to tramp, staying in one of the small towns dotted around the base of the mountains. Note that this region is over 600m above sea level, so even in the height of summer you’ll need warm clothing.
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The Tongariro Alpine Crossing
The Tongariro Alpine Crossing
Tongariro National Park contains some of the North Island’s finest walks, all through spectacular and varied volcanic terrain. The Tongariro Alpine Crossing alone is often cited as the best one-day tramp in the country, but there are many longer possibilities.
During the summer season (typically mid-Nov to April) the Tongariro Alpine Crossing is by far the most popular of the major tramps in the region, and for good reason. Within a few hours you climb over lava flows, cross a crater floor, skirt active geothermal areas, pass beautiful and serene emerald and blue lakes and have the opportunity to ascend the cinder cone of Mount Ngauruhoe. Even without this wealth of highlights it would still be a fine tramp, traversing a mountain massif through scrub and tussock before descending into virgin bush. On weekends and through the height of summer up to seven hundred people per day complete the Crossing: aim for spring or autumn and stick to weekdays. Other ways to avoid the crush are to get one of the early shuttles and keep ahead of the crowds, or turn one long, arduous day into a relaxed two-day experience, dawdling behind the mob and staying the night at Ketetahi Hut.
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The Tongariro power scheme
The Tongariro power scheme
The Tongariro Power Scheme provides an object lesson in harnessing the power of water with minimal impact on the environment. Its two powerhouses produce around seven percent of the country’s electricity, while the outflows that feed into Lake Taupo add flexibility to the much older chain of eight hydroelectric dams along the Waikato River. Some argue it is unacceptable to tamper with such a fine piece of wilderness, but, while there have been some minor environmental impacts, it is surely better than a nuclear power station.
In fact, if it weren’t for the scale models in visitor centres and the ugly bulk of the Tokaanu power station, only astute observers would be aware of the complex system of tunnels, aqueducts, canals and weirs unobtrusively going about their business of diverting the waters of the Tongariro River and myriad streams running off the mountain slopes, back and forth around the perimeter of the national park, using modified natural lakes for storage. Mount Ruapehu poses its own unique problems: the threat of lahars is ever-present and, after the 1995 eruption, abrasive volcanic ash found its way into the turbines of the Rangipo underground powerhouse, causing an unscheduled seven-month shutdown.
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The Maori mountain legends
The Maori mountain legends
When Te Heu Heu Tukino donated Tongariro’s central volcanoes to the Crown, he was motivated by a deep spiritual need for their protection. According to Maori, the mountains at the heart of the park have distinct personalities that symbolize the links between the community and its environment. This significance was recognized in 1991 when the park became the first UNESCO World Heritage Site included as a cultural landscape.
Legends tell of a number of smaller mountains clustered around the dominating Ruapehu, Tongariro, Ngauruhoe and Taranaki. Among these was the beautiful Pihanga in the northern section of the park, whose favours were widely sought. Pihanga loved only Tongariro, the victor of numerous battles with her other suitors, including one that had brought him to his knees, striking off the top of his head, giving him his present shape. Taranaki, meantime, defeated Ngauruhoe, but when he came to face Ruapehu, he was exhausted and badly wounded. He fled, carving out the Whanganui River as he made for the west coast of the North Island. Meanwhile the smaller Putauaki got as far north as Kawerau; but Tauhara was reluctant to leave and continually glanced back, so that by dawn, when the mountains could no longer move, he had only reached the northern shores of Lake Taupo, where he remains to this day, “the lonely mountain”.
To the local Tuwharetoa people these mountains were so sacred that they averted their eyes while passing and wouldn’t eat or build fires in the vicinity. The tapu stretches back to legendary times when their ancestor Ngatoroirangi came to claim the centre of the island. After declaring Tongariro tapu, he set off up the mountain, but his followers broke their vow to fast while he was away and the angry gods sent a snowstorm in which Ngatoroirangi almost perished before more benevolent gods in Hawaiki saved him by sending fire to revive his frozen limbs.
