LOW cloud covered much of the North Island flying north from Nelson to Auckland on my way home. The only mountains high enough to rise above the cloud were the two snow-capped volcanoes of Mount Ruapehu and Mount Taranaki.
Today the wide crater of Ruapehu towered above the clouds. Today it stood calm not showing any signs of the volcanic activity of 20 years ago sending huge clouds of ash 10 kilometres into the air to fall as ash rain over various areas. The harsh grit of the clouds forced all airspace of the North Island to close massively disrupting everyone’s travel plans. In recent years though, the mountain has remained calm poking up into clear skies above the cloud cover.
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