Close by Taupo is a geothermic active area called "craters of the moon". The have a nice loop track through the steaming and smoking holes.
One of the biggest holes is shown here. The whole place was very noisy and also smelled strange, a little like sulphur, a little muddy.
On my way to Tongariro national parc I took a nice pic of the coming storm front.
Unfortunately this storm front will keep me inside the next days too. Up to 40cm rain in 24h are coming and the forecast is bad till saturday.
So I had to cancel my next planned hiking trip, this would have been the Tongariro crossing, one of the best one-day trips in NZ. You are passing bye vulcanic and alpine sceneries. Probably I can come back later but dont know that now.
