12.02.2020 From surf vibe to ski vibe....

Well I think I've mostly been a mountain person rather than a beach person so I was particularly glad to be heading from Lake Taupo into the Tongariro National Park and being able to do some more walking. Lake Taupo did not, however, fail to impress. It seemed to take me forever to leave the lake behind - I guess that is because it covers 66 square kilometres and around every corner it created another turquoise background to my drive. Within less than 2 hours driving I am in a World Heritage Site that's home to ancient rainforest, active volcanoes, sacred mountains and tranquil rivers with fantastic visitor information services. There are three volcanoes in the park Mts. Tongariro, Ruapehu the largest active volcano and, of course, Mt Ngauruhoe which all you hobbit fans will know as " "Mount Doom". Fantastic scenery all the way on the way to my stop off today at Whakapapa Village. Here the "wh" is prounounced as "ph" so make of that what you will... I wasn't surprised to see the chateau as I arrived as Adrian and Kate had told me about it - pretty impressive though in it's setting. At the visitor's centre the key message to all visitors is "know your own abilities" and I certainly know mine so I chose to walk the Taranaki Falls trail and I wasn't disappointed with views over Mt Ngauruhoe and the beautiful waterfall where I stopped to have my packed lunch it was a great walk. At the falls there were some who wanted to be "behind the veil" and some who just wanted to relax in the water after a long days walking - I was happy just to watch them and the people up above knowing that pretty soon I would be up on the rocks looking down. Lava and volcanos are never very far away in this area with lots of evidence of previous lava flows . The heather is in full bloom here so just wanted to remind you all that Spring is just around the corner despite the dismal weather that you are having in the UK at the moment.

I am definitely not stalking this guy - honestly!!! Still time after the walk to take the Ski Waka ski lift up into the ski area. The drive up there was bad enough as my prescription sunglasses don't really cut it in this strength of light and I was squinting all the way up there. Note to self - contacts and raybans in the future!!! Great ride up - I have to think though - being an old skier - it's bad enough having to think about avalanches and white outs but here you have the additional hazard of the volcano erupting!!!!! Great views though and the colourful vision of Mount Ngaruhoe is caused by the light from the cabin windows not any filters on my camera....

My overnight stop for two nights is in Ohakune which is where I am right now in a cabin by a river trying to update this blog which is like watching paint dry an I've had enough for now. Ohakune is obviously a ski paradise when the season starts in June - yes June!! and the place is full of ski gear hire, apres ski bars and the usual stuff - right now it's full of oldies like me mostly in their camper vans doing just what I am doing and enjoying it. Had a river and forest walk today but really to upload those photos right now would be the limit and I have an early start in the morning. Sorry guys but it's taken me over 2 hours just to get these few pics up!! Will catch up again when I get into a better wifi zone probably a couple of days but for tomorrow I'm off on a jet boat on the river Whanganui and a walk to "The Bridge to Nowhere" Looking forward to it "Ko au te awa, ko te awa ko au" " I am the river, the river is me". Watch out for the river blog in a few days time. Thanks for following xxxxx