The fiery slopes of Mount Doom in the Lord of the Rings trilogy were filmed on the slopes of Mount Ruapehu. The mountain was one of the highlights of my road trip around New Zealand in 2015. It was the beginning of a delayed spring.

Here was my first instance with real snow, albeit fallen one. To experience real snow, I had to wait for another year on my next road trip in Japan.

More images to come:

above ^ View of Mt Ngauruhoe from Mt Ruapehu. The 2 mountains were filmed as Mount Doom in the LOTR trilogy