Tongariro, New Zealand

During the same trip I made to New Zealand to work on Tarawera, I also visited Tongariro on the south end of the Taupo Volcanic Zone. Now, this was before the recent activity at Tongariro, but the views of Ngauruhoe from Tongariro Crossings were spectacular with the youngest cone of Tongariro showing off some of the lava flows from its most recent eruptions in the late 1970's. You can see the slopes of Ruapehu on the left edge of the image as well.

Fondest memory: Almost dying when we decided to do Tongariro Crossings on a day that ended up being close to 40C.

Image: ISS image from October 23, 2010. NASA.