Thursday, June 30, 2011

Tongariro National Park, New Zealand

Next comes a fabulous card from New Zealand...showing the National park Tongariro....

I once wrote about it, so you can read some additional details about Tongariro here. The difference is that on this card the volcanoes are under snow which just makes the view extra beautiful...plus here you can see one more volcano, and that is Mt. Ruapehu, which is also one of the most active volcanoes in the world and the largest active volcano in New Zealand, with its highest elevation of 2,797 m.
The back of the card says: "This tranquil photo belies the fact that these volcanoes have been among the most active in the world in the 20th century".

btw, 'aoteaora' (the caption you can see on the card) is the most widely known and accepted Māori name for New Zealand


the stamp is from a set of 6 issued this year, under the subject of "kapa haka" which refers to the cultural dance of the Māori people.

2 comments:

Heather said...

Would you like some more info? I'm from NZ!

Ruapehu is NZ's North Island ski field (in the south Island we ski at 'the remarkables'). It is just about the only region of the north Island that gets any snow (though Mt Taranaki does too) and the shape of Ruapehu lends itself to skiing much more than the other two volcanos next to it. Tongariro is very common with climbers who walk it to get to the emerald coloured crater lake (obviously a summer activity).

The main state highway of NZ runs right past them, making for very breath-taking photos but with no-where much to stop and take them lol. The roads are very curved and icy...we call the road 'the desert road' and it can be closed during winter. If you want to get from the bottom to the top of the North Island, the first thing to do is check if the desert road is open!

Also, you're correct that 'Aotearoa' is the maori name for NZ but what it means is this: 'land of the long white cloud'. It's ALWAYS cloudy in NZ lol.

Ana said...

thanks so much for the comment Heather! I always love getting an insight from natives or people who've personally experienced a place :) I just dont know if id be able to handle the 'always cloudy' thing...cloudy makes me sleep :)

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