Tongariro National Park

The weather god was not kind at my next destination - the Plateau Lodge at National Park Village. It was raining heavily and continuously that day so I could do nothing but to drive all the way around the Tongariro National Park. On the way I went all the way up to Turoa ski field to see the Lord of the Rings location but there was no visibility whatsoever so I had to turn around. I saw the Mangawhero Falls though where Gollum catches the fish.

After that I continued to Waiouro, where I had a much-needed hot chocolate at the Pen Cafe, and through Rangipo Desert. My plan to stop by the Okupata Caves turned out to be a pretty bad idea. The road was horrible, mud everywhere and I almost feared that I would get stuck here. When I finally reached the caves the entrance was flooded and without a guide there was no way that I'd venture in. My only solace that day was the half-hour in the hot tub that evening.

Fortunately, the next day was dry so I decided to join Adrift Tours for an attempt of the famous Tongariro Crossing. We were at their office at 7 am and got sturdy hiking boots, extra layers, crampons and ice axes. I felt a little nervous for this all made the crossing seem rather difficult and I hadn't done any serious hiking lately. Despite my fears the tour was exhausting but definitely makeable. I walked right behind the guide and we shared poems, stories and Maori legends. Even the Devils's Staircase was no problem and finally we reached the viewpoint over Mordor. However, up there the winds were stronger than 90 km/h so the guides decided that we had to turn around or we'd be blown off the cliff. Standing there I could totally believe that!

Can you see Mordor down there?

A little disappointed we made our way back down the same way. To cheer us up we had a snowball war between the faster and slower group, had a quick look at Soda Springs on the way down and when we reached the office again they offered to take us on another smaller walk for compensation. Thus about five of us raced up and down to Silica rapids so we'd be back before sunset. We walked a 2,5-hour-trip in 1,5 hours!

Soda Springs

Silica Rapids

The group was so nice that we decided to meet again in the evening and got to a bar together. Two of them also joined me the next day to walk to Tawhai Falls. Whakapapa ski field was only accessible with snow chains and hiking wasn't much fun in this never-ending rain so I quickly returned to the hostel and had a relaxed day.

Tawhai Falls or Gollum's Pool, the entrance to Henneth Annûn

And again a white water rafting trip was cancelled... so I decided to join my Welsh room-mate, Jake, who planned to go skiing. Yes, it is expensive but I had the most fun day ever! Although I had had to wake up at 5.30 am it was 10.30 am by the time we had rented all the equipment (in the village for that is cheaper than at the top of the mountain). In Whakapapa we had to wait for almost 2 hours until the bus had put snow chains on and I felt as if I was frozen through and through.
When we finally hit the slopes at noon I was surprised at how good I actually were! I haven't been skiing in ages but I guess you never unlearn it and I didn't fall down once. That of course gave me more time to laugh at Jake's unintentional stunts... The sight was horrible. It was snow-raining and all I could see was white, no features in the ground at all. I just had to rely on myself to be stable and just went for it. It must be wonderful when you can actually see further than 5 metres!

The next morning I dropped my other room-mate, Cat, off at the train station and continued towards Wellington. On the way I stopped to look at the Mokai Gravity Canyon location (River Anduin), Waitarere Beach (where I had a short stroll through the forest) and Otaki Gorge (where the flooded road prevented me from reaching the actual location). At 5 pm I finally arrived in the capital...