Picture of the day - July 3, 2008

Mount Ngauruhoe

Photo courtesy of Meredith B. If the cloud-covered peak featured in today's picture looks vaguely familiar, chances are you saw at least one of the blockbuster Lord of the Rings movies. When director Peter Jackson was planning to shoot the trilogy based upon the enormously popular J.R.R. Tolkien novel, he chose Mount Ngauruhoe as the movie stand-in for the fictional "Mount Doom". Mount Ngauruhoe is actually quite an interesting mountain in its own right however. An active stratovolcano located on the Central Plateau of New Zealand's North Island, its cone-shaped peak erupted 45 times in the 20th century alone, making it one of the most active volcanoes of modern times. New Zealand has long been recognized as one of the most beautiful countries on the planet, and if Cheria and I ever get around to paying the island nation a visit one of the first things we'll do is check out statuesque Mount Ngauruhoe for ourselves.   Click here to comment on this picture.   Visit the POTD Archives for previous "Pictures Of The Day"!     Submit a photo of your own!                                 Place the "Picture of the Day" on your website, for free! Why I publish the "Picture of the Day"