Yesterday was the day we visited Mt. Doooooom!

This was one of our tour guides. Frodo was very happy to find out that his name was Sam!

Our first stop was a view of the recent eruption on Mt. Tongariro - it's still steaming. Sam was within 200m of it when it blew. He says lots of people ran up to him asking, 'What do we do? What do we do?" He told them, "Run away!" Perhaps he should have said, "Fly, you fools!"

Mt. Ruapehu - this part of the Whakapapa Ski Field is called Happy Valley for no obvious reason.

As you can see from all the ski lodges, this is actually a quite busy ski area in the winter.

Meade's Wall, where the Last Alliance made its stand against Sauron.

The location in The Return of the King where Sam and Frodo are pressed by the Orcs into their band.

And here come the Orcs now! Actually, 20 agriculture students from Iowa State University.

The students loved reenacting scenes. Why, yes, it was foggy that day.

The other tour guide, Kyle, reminding Frodo where he and Sam shared the lembas bread (not bad for foreign food).

One of the many, many places where Sam and Frod climbed up in the movie. I must say Frodo did a good job of keeping his PTSD under control.

This is where Gollum climbed down to attack the sleeping Sam and Frodo.

Our last stop was a visit to the Forbidden Pool. The students had a lot of fun swimming in it - for about two minutes! It's fed by snow melt. Brrrr!