Our first stop was Tongariro National Park. This area has three volcanoes in it, and offers a huge variety of activities for the outdoors lover. Mt. Ruapehu offers some of the best skiing in New Zealand, Mt. Tongariro is known for the Tongariro Alpine crossing which takes you across the mountain and to the emerald lakes (on my to-do list for the summer), and Mt. Ngauruhoe which was used as Mt. Doom for the Lord of the Rings films.
We spent a cozy night in one of the lodges in National Park Village, which by the way has only one restaurant, which is also the only pub, so if you are hungry, get there early for dinner to avoid a long wait. The food was yum though, and the portions incredibly generous, so I thought it was worth the wait.
When we got up the next morning, the weather was not good enough for any major hiking or treks which would have much elevation due to clouds and a bit of rain, so we opted for a tramp out to Taranai Falls. It was a two hour loop track that goes through varying areas of bush, and along the Wairere Stream. The falls are 20 meters tall (65 feet) and fall over the edge of a lava flow that erupted from Mt. Ruapehu 15,000 years ago. Had the sun come out and burned the clouds away, there would have been excellent views of the mountain peaks, but as it was the view was stunning.
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| The Chateau at Whakapapa Village--where I'll stay when I'm rich and famous haha |
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| Start of the track |
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| Snow-covered Ruapehu trying to peek out of the clouds |
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| Top of the falls |
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| Steps down to the falls (or up if you started the track on the other end, which thankfully we didn't! |
