Mont Ngauruhoe from Mont Tongariro (New Zealand)

Hi !

Looking back, I still can’t believe I had the chance to walk the Tongariro Crossing, know to be one of the most beautiful day walk in the world.

Yeah I know, it is in New Zealand, not every body will have a chance to go there. And even if the luck is on your side, you still need to hope for good weather, as winds usually are around 80 to 100 km/h.

Anyway, this is the view on Mount Ngauruhoe (which was featured in the LOTR movies as Mount Doom), shot from Mount Tongariro. Climbing Mount Ngauruhoe is not easy at all, and fairly dangerous, as at any time a rock may fall on your head leaving you a vegetative state forever, if it doesn’t kill you. It is all ashes and sand, and volcanic stone, so pretty unstable and requiring a lot of effort to progress. But the view must be quite awesome. Another time or life maybe…

Lets conclude on an interesting fact: this is one of the most active volcano of our era. I couldn’t do this walk two years ago, because the all track was damaged by an eruption (though shooting the eruption must be quite a lot of fun and fear all together).

Enjoy (or not) and stay tuned !

sheeps of New Zealand

Hi !

Here’s a funny shot I took during my first trip to New Zealand. We were walking by the hills of Belmont Regional Park, my first peak in Kiwi’s spectacular landscape, and while crossing a lot of farmland, we were kinda scaring the shit out all sheeps we were meeting. These four ones were escaping and stopping looking back at us, to see if they are still out of arms ways. And they just aligned perfectly for a nice shot.

Enjoy (or not) and stay tuned !