Mountains and snow

Ah, hello everyone. I am now relaxed in Taupo after having spent a couple of days in the Tongariro National Park.
I was camped in Whakapapa village, which is not really a village at all but just a collection of about five buildings and a huge hotel, on the slopes of Mt Ruapehu. Just up the road was Whakapapa ski field where quite a bit of the Mordor part of the Lord of the Rings was filmed. The snow was still hanging around and my campsite was not far below the snow line, so it was a touch chilly. It's a bizarre place where along with fire escape instructions, the buildings come equipped with instructions of where to go and what to do if the mountain should erupt! It's still a live volcano and has been known to cause the odd problem . . . However, that makes the landscape all the more interesting, since the lava flows and such like have not really been weathered down and there are not many plants which have taken hold.
I would have liked to have walked the northern circuit around Mt Tongariro while I was there, but the winds were too high and the cloud kept on dropping down too far. But having spoken to Andy and Sarah a couple of nights ago, it looks like I will be back there with them early in the new year.
Jos should be arriving in NZ today, but I don't know his flight details. Hopefully he'll be contacting me and nipping down to Taupo to say hello. It's not as though I haven't seen anyone I know for a while though. I keep bumping into people I've met before! On the lake Waikaremoana walk a met two people I had already met in NZ, then in Napier and Whakapapa I met people who had been staying in the same huts as me on the walk. I think that I am now off the type of route that they will be taking, since most of them are heading towards the south island now. Having said that, I have got a couple of mobile phone numbers so I'll try to catch up with them when I get south.
Anyhow, I'm now rambling on. So take good care one and all and I'll be back in a few days.