Day 5

The day began with a windy drive through a small mountain pass, once again the hillside scattered with cows, sheep and forest. We descended into plains, looking for a dump station because the shower drain lightly overflowing with grey water around the winding roads. Van’s first unkind gesture. Alas, no after trying several public transfer stations, none were open, so we continued south following Frodo’s path into Mordor towards Mt. Doom also known as the Tongariro National Park. As we rose out of the plains into a smallish range of mountains, we began speculating which one might be The One… until we got a peek of what was clearly a volcano poking it’s head out behind the near mountains. Capped white, with the iconic shape of Mt. Doom (or Mt Ngauruhoe, 2287m). The road wrapped west around the mountain range revealing a full view of the Mountain, and an even bigger mountain called Mt. Te Heuheu, 2732m used in the creation of Mordor. We pulled into the small mountain village (and ski town) of Whakapapa. We parked Van, and asked the iSite what hike was best to do. After some debate, we decided it best not to do the trek to the top of Te Heuheu as it was snow covered and we were not properly geared for that. So we elected to hike past a waterfall to Lower Lake Tama. It was a marvelous experience as we hiked out of rainforest, into volcanic plains, flanked on either side by the volcanic Mt. Ngauruhoe and the broad, jagged peaks of Mt. Te Heuheu.

The trail was amazingly well maintained (as are almost all of the trails we’ve encountered here) with long orange and blue poles to mark the trails during winter. Many pictures taken, only to find new and better views a few meters down the way.

 We turned around at the teal water filled crater of Lower Lake Tama again marveling at the views.

We made back to Van (There and Back Again), and headed south once more. We managed to find a truly backwater campground where we paid $10NZ for our first waste dump experience. Back on the road, we stopped in Fielding to look for a new watch (unsuccessfully), and to get dinner in a hipster restaurant, where the waitress suggested we stop at The Warehouse… which we deduced to be New Zealand’s version of Walmart. Thus began the hunt for a Warehouse, which would not be so challenging except for the date we had with a ferry tomorrow, with several hundred kilometers to get to Wellington on the south tip of the North Island.

We ended the day finding an overlook campground outside of Ashton, though the views were nil, as it was close to 9pm, the sun was setting, and it was raining.