Day 4 and 5

On the afternoon of day 4 we travel by coach (3 hours) to the remote village of National Park located on the central North Island's volcanic plateau. This is an ideal base for exploring the Tongariro National Park, New Zealand's first national park and gifted to the people of New Zealand in 1887 by local Maori. Peter Jackson's Mordor; Home of the Dark Lord Sauron in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy was shot in the area. The conical silhouette of Mt Ngauruhoe can be seen from our accommodation and was digitally transformed to create Mt Doom.

There is a great selection of optional walks in the Tongariro National Park, ranging from easy half hour strolls to more challenging alpine hikes. Take up the challenge of the 'Tongariro Crossing Alpine', dubbed New Zealand's finest one day walk. The 18.5km hike explores an eerie, lunar-like landscape of volcanic craters, steaming vents, hot springs and old lava flows before descending into lush native bush.