As we left the coast this morning it was wall to wall sunshine and blue skies, we had finally converted to short sleeve tee-shirts and flip flops! It was hard to believe therefore the ‘winter driving conditions’ warning on highway 5 as we headed inland.
The last time we had taken this route was when Tracy was with us, and the weather was awful, today it couldn’t be any more different from then. We stopped at a scenic lookout to take in the powerful beauty of Waipunga Falls.
Rather than going into Taupo town centre we headed south on highway 1, and hugged the lake edge, admiring the stunning views down to Tongariro National Park. (Tracy – this is what the view of the Lake Taupo is like on a clear day!!)
Tongariro National Park is home to 3 active volcanoes, which you can see in the photo above. From left to right; Mount Tongariro (1967m), a multi vent volcano, Mount Ngauruhoe (2287m), a conical, single vent volcano, and Mount Ruapehu (2797m) the multi vent volcano is the tallest and most active, with it’s last eruption in 2007.
We stopped at a scenic lookout above Lake Taupo for lunch, and took in the stunning views.
We then entered Tongariro National Park, and drove up to Whakapapa Village, a small alpine ski village nestled high in the park. As we neared the small village it was clear they had just had a fresh helping of snow…a challenge when parking the van in our campsite!
We have been lucky enough to snag a spot with the best view, overlooking the stream below and Mount Ruapehu above!
We headed straight out on foot to take in the views before the clouds moved in, and the winter woollies were back out of storage! The iconic Bayview Chateau Tongariro stood majestically in front of Mount Ruapehu whilst we posed for photos.
We played around in the snow on the golf course, however, we cannot lay claim to having rolled the beauties below!
Back at the campsite we sat in the van admiring our view, and watching the sun go down on Mount Ruapehu.
We then read the ‘warning’ brochure in the camp kitchen; we are now fully clued up on what to do if there is a lava flow, volcanic eruption, earthquake, cyclone and/or bombing! Phew, what a dangerous country we all of a sudden appear to be in…luckily we left Christchurch when we did!!
Oh, and Nicola did the blog…
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