last project
5/4/5 = 14/15 !!
Introduction
My topic is Tongariro National Park, which is located in the middle of the North Island of New Zealand. It includes extensive ranges, and volcanoes which are still active, so some of the landscape was used as backgrounds in movies. One of the volcanoes was captured as ‘Mt.Doom’ in the film called ‘Lord of the Rings’. The film is one of my favourites. When I first saw it I thought that the scenes were created with computer graphics, but now I realize that the film locations are real places. I would like to know the locations to travel as well. I will explain about Tongariro National Park, and then connect the ‘Lord of the Rings’ features, such as ‘Mordor’, with the real locations. In addition, activities in the park will be discussed in the following paragraphs.
What is Tongariro National Park
Tongariro, meaning ‘south wind’ for ‘Tonga’ and ‘carried away’ for ‘riro’, was first instituted national park in New Zealand in 1894. This information is from Lonely Planet (2006), the Paramount Chief named Horonuku Te heuneu gifted the volcanoes in 1887. The three mountains all include volcanoes which are still active. Meanwhile, the view of the park makes the park more unique and unforgettable. According to Department of Conservation Te Papa Atawhai, the site has been internationally awarded world heritage status. Active volcanoes could be thought less safe, the volcanoes are being monitored by experts so that warnings of volcanic activities occur before any eruptions. (Teara, 2007)
The highest mountain of these mountains is Mt. Ruapehu (2797m) which is the latest to have experienced volcanic activities. This event influenced the Crater Lake by causing it to overflow to create lahars which are a lot of volcanic mud flowing like landslide from the lake. These phenomena had already been predicted. (www.newzealand.com, 2007) Mt. Tongariro (1968m) is the most extensive of the three mountains and covers most of the park area. There is a river called Tongariro River as well near the mountain. According to Teara (2007), Mt. Tongariro has not erupted since probably in the 1880s. However, it had frequently erupted before. The latest eruption of Mt. Tongariro was in 1926, which the volcanoes only gushed ash into the Red Crater. (Department of Conservation Te Papa Atawhai, 2007) Mt. Ngaurohoe (2290m) is the youngest mountain in these three mountains and accoding to Lonely Planet; the mountain is a conical vent of Mt. Tongariro and Mt. Ngaurohoe has the greatest landscapes.
Many birds and animals that only exist in New Zealand live in the park. The mountains have been protected against pollutions and ecological destructions. (Fourcorners.co.nz 2007)
Tongariro National park as ‘Load of the Rings’ locations
The park has a variety of scenery with volcanoes. Despite being located in the middle of the north island of New Zealand, some of mountains are covered with snow during the winter. This environment makes characteristic landscapes. (Lonely Planet, 2006) Accordingly the park has occasionally been used as a background for movies such as ‘Lord of the Rings’ and others. (Department of Conservation Te Papa Atawhai, 2007) In the film New Zealand was taken to describe ‘Middle Earth’, which are Human and other races lived there together in the story. The director of the ‘Lord of the Rings’ wanted to search for perfect places which had not been damaged by people, but looked devastated naturally. In summer the mountain only shows us steep precipices after snow melts. Most of the scenes were as ‘Mordor’, which was the way to go to ‘Mt.Doom’. While the heroes were going to ‘Mt.Doom’, which was the only place to break ‘the Ring’, the park was taken as background. For example, the heroes caught ‘Gollum’ who was fishing at a place behind Mangawhero Falls. Whakapapa ski field was the location of battle between the heroes and their enemies. Tongariro National Park was used for a lot of scenes, because the park harmonizes volcanic and natural views. These places, where the film was taken, have not only been famous since the park was established, but the film material tour also encouraged the visitors to come again. (Ian Brodie, 2004)
Activities in Tongariro National park
In Tongariro National Park, there are many kinds of activities. Mountain sports, such as hiking, tramping and walking, are allowed in the park. The most famous activity is a crossing called Tongariro Alpine Crossing takes about 6~8hours, its distance is about 17 kilometres so it could travel for a day, and during the crossing see wonderful volcanic scenery welcoming visitors to the park. (Lonely Planet, 2006) Whakapapa ski field, located on Mt. Ruapehu, is the biggest ski field in the North Island of new Zealand. Turoa and Whakapapa have been used by many people who enjoy snow sports. For non-skier there are some activities, such as hiking. (www.newzealnad.com, 2007) River activities are also available in the Tongariro River. For instance,rafting in the white water, trips around the river, and also fishing competitions. ‘Lord of the Rings’ trip is organized at near by Owhango which takes about thirty minuets by car from Tongariro National Park. “You can visit Mordor, Gollum’s Pool, Ithilien Camp, Meads Wall, Emyn Muil, and Mt.Doom.” The trip also visits the place where ‘the Ring’ was lost by Saruman. (www.nationalpark.co.nz, 2007) In the park, there is Whakapapa village has a visitor information centre. “The centre is located on the north-western side of the park” so someone who wants to get information of accommodations, restaurants and so on ought to go to the visitor centre.(Lonely planet, 2006)
Conclusion
The Tongariro National Park has a number of interests. Many NewZealand people are proud of having such a park in their own country by visiting there. (Lonely Planet, 2006) I explain about information of the volcanoes, such as history of the explosions and history of the park as well.
The elements of the ‘Load of the Rings’ was written the above paragraphs, for example, where the scenes were captured. The landscapes have been chosen by film directors, the volcanoes made surprise view points for them. (Ian Brodie, 2004) The park provides plenty of activities which are introduced in previous paragraphs. Tongariro National Park is absolutely huge travel and explore. That means anyone can simply enjoy it. I first thought it is hard to travel the park because the park is really enormous and looks dangerous, but when I was processing the project which was known to me as the park, the information made me encouraged to want to visit there. Now I’m seriously thinking of travelling to Tongariro National Park to make it s last memory in New Zealand because of this project.