Within an hour of enjoying a gourmet lunch at a boutique lodge where film stars and royalty have stayed, you could be trekking across a World Heritage national park. Or within minutes of catching a gleaming rainbow trout in a mountain fed stream you could be snow boarding down a live volcano. Just about everywhere you look you'll see a volcano. The most serene is Lake Taupo itself, created by an eruption so big the sun went hazy in China. At the southern end of the Lake is one of the world's most spectacular parks - Tongariro National Park. It is one of only 20 places in the world to have been awarded dual World Heritage status as both a natural and cultural icon. Ruapehu erupted in 1996, putting on a spectacular fireworks display that made world news. But its rumblings have long since stopped and once again thousands of skiers and snow boarders flock here in winter.