Mount Ngauruhoe and Taranaki Falls

On the Tongariro Northern Circuit with Mount Ngauruhoe on the background.

If hiking (or tramping) is your kind of thing, New Zealand is a great place to do that. One, the views are fantastic. Literally, every photo could be for a postcard. Two, the trails are well taken cared of. They're clean and there are directional signs. And third, there are practically no dangerous animals to harm you (no snakes, spiders, etc.).

Beautiful day to go hiking.

I went on a short and easy hike at the Tongariro Northern Circuit near Whakapapa during my ski trip last July. I went with my fellow international students. We took the Taranaki Falls 2-hour hike.

With my fellow international students.

We entered the track at Whapapa Visitor Center. Like I said, the trails are well maintained. I noticed there were no trash cans, but at the same time I didn't see any litter either. I guess trash cans are hard to maintain, and may attract small animals. Also, it seems hikers are presumed to be responsible enough to keep their trash with them until they get back to the village.

That's Mount Ruapehu

The easy hike provided us with great views of both Mount Ruapehu and Mount Ngauruhoe. Have I mentioned that both volcanoes were film locations of Mount Doom in the Lord of the Rings movies?

We have lots of falls like this in my province of Ilocos Norte.

After an hour of hiking, we reached Taranaki Falls. Nothing really special with this falls as there are lots of them in the Philippines, but still nice to see. Anyway, if we had more time (and better dressed for outdoors), we could continue hiking around Mount Ngauruhoe, which would take the whole day. But we were in jeans and sneakers. From Taranaki Falls it was another hour to get back where we started.

If you take a trip to Mount Ruapehu to ski, and want to do something else while there, I suggest to take this short 2-hour hike of the Tongariro Northern Circuit at Whakapapa Village, just a 10-minute drive from Whakapapa Ski Area. It's another great way to enjoy the Kiwi outdoors.