Adventure Lodge & Motel National Park Village

... 1488;ם לא עושים הפסקו 14; ארוכו 14; מדי.

כיצד מגיעי 01;

העיר טאופו (Taupo) היא המקום ממנו יוצאי 01 ...

i arrived in the afternoon and it was wonderful and sunny and the views over to the mountains and volcanos was spectacular, i went to whakapapa village and visited the info centre on volcanos so i should know what to do if i was to errupt and went ona short walk to the volcano. i then returned to the hostel to go to bed early ready for the big crossing the next day

the tongariro crossing is a 19.4km walk over the volcano know as Mt doom from Lord of the rings ...

... could only pay online if you had some reference number which we didn't and I had to ring instead. All for $4 but if we hadn't paid it then you get fined and blah blah. Its all done now and we headed back out of town to look for the Huka falls. As we drove out we stopped at a lookout overlooking the lake and town Taupo. As we sat eating our sandwiches, the sky cleared and over the far side of the lake we could see the snowy volcano's which looked awesome ...

The countdown had begun months ago. We were as desperate as Stevie Wonder clay pigeon shooting. Having booked a cottage for the band 20 mins from the slopes we again made the lengthy trek south to National Park after work on Friday only stopping at the golden arches for some grease & a mcturd. Blurry eyed & yawning we made it through the freezing fog in our kilns on wheels until we struck gold in some backroad off SH1 otherwise ...

... and see this place.

Then it was the drive across to my next venue – Discovery Lodge, which was about 2.5 hours away in the middle of the Tongariro National Park. The drive was along the Thermal highway following the fault line past various hot springs and geothermal power stations. The drive took me past the late at Taupo which has the most magnificent views across to the National Park and at sunset, the snow-capped peaks glow ...

... Have you ever seen anything so barren? So empty? It's glorious!".... I guess I am a desert rat after all So it was up this barren ant hill in a series of never ending steps. I had to take tons of breaks (particularly biting when a 40 year old man with a toddler on his back breezed by me), and I don't think I really thought much for the first to hours except "We're going higher? ... Maybe around this corner...? More steps!.. You get to the end of the steps and and then ...

... es vom Ufer aus um die Stromschnelle herum...eine gute Entscheidung wie sich spaeter herausstellt...alle anderen sind an dieser Stelle gekentert und und standen komplett durchnaesst und zitternd am Endpunkt im kleinen Village Pipiriki. Durchgefrohren mit absolut kraftlosen Armen werden wir hier wieder vom Shuttlebus aufgepickt, nach insgesamt 3 Tagen auf dem Fluss mit 17 Stunden und 89 Kilometern paddeln durch grossartige Nationalparklandschaft.

... rock and debris gives way to open tussock grass land and then dense bush that cuts out the view. Landmarks include the Ketetahi Mountain hut and the steaming Keteahi hot springs. I arrived at Ketetahi car park, pleasantly tired but still going strong, about 5 hours 40 minutes after setting out. I was quite pleased with this as the time for the walk is given as 6-7 hours excluding stops. I am not totally decrepit yet. After a 20 minute wait, the shuttle bus ...