Raurimu to Turangi

After all that hiking at Tongariro National Park, we drove around before going back to the lodge.



Somewhere in the vicinity



Then went back for a well-deserved dinner.


The kiwi fruits in NZ are cheap, extremely flavourful and sweet, so unlike those we have here which are unripe and sourish. My SO was buying loads of the fruit and eating several and more everyday, which somehow, manage to convert one of our friends (both aren't into fruits) into a kiwi fruit fan.


Half tandoori grilled chicken


With stir-fried spinach & fresh button mushrooms (cheap) and canned sphaghetti. Their spinach comes in a huge bunch with very large leaves, and surprisingly, tasted sweet on its own without the siap siap taste of our local spinach. The fresh groceries were cheap as they were on special offer, which there often is, every couple of weeks.


Golden ginger wine from Sentry Hill

The next day (Day 9), we bid farewell to the very cozy Haven Lodge and move towards Lake Taupo, about 2 hours (?) away. Along the way, we went to Turangi for lunch.


There was some sort of fair going on in the town centre and a country song performance by the locals. Their standard of singing was very good!


My lunch of "the best vegetarian burger" - with grilled sweet onions, lettuce, tomatoes, mushrooms, cheese and kurama (sweet potatoes).


The SO's chicken and mushroom pasta with came in big kweh chap-like sheets of pasta. It was slightly creamy and very soft and nice.


The board display in the visitor information centre. Pressing the button will light up the board and start a commentary about the mountains and rivers in the region and how water and hydro-electricity are harnessed to provide power.

Tongariro National Park II (Day 8)

We went back to Tongariro National Park (TNP) the next day, after the previous day's failed attempted to do any sort of hiking at the famous park.


The weather was cloudy but at least it wasn't raining, so we decided to do the 1-hr Taranaki Falls trail.


I think what they mean by a "1-hr" walk is provided you walk VERY briskly, without stopping and just kind of zoom your way through the trail, but how boring is that?


With our dilly-dallying to take photos, side-tracking, and stopping to snack on chocolates (we ate lots of chocolates on this trip), we probably took about 3 hours to do the trail.


Interesting terrain


The bushes look brown and as if they've wilted...but it's normal (most of them look like that)


Undulating terrain


Unusual vegetation


Stream-crossing


Gorgeous scenery...


...with colours of Fall (it's Spring actually)


Probably Mt Ngauruhoe


Water from the mountains


Taranaki Falls


Flowing rivers


Leaving the 80-year old Whakapapa or was it Tongariro Chateau...?


A nice, clear shot of the moutain just as we were leaving

This park was definitely one of the highlights of our trip...more to come in the later part of the trip.

Day 7 Raurimu

Since we couldn't do the walks at Tongariro National Park due to bad weather, one of the things we did was to detour to nearby towns, so we ended up at Ohakune to have the lunch which we'd packed for the Tongariro Crossing.


Our lunch - roast chicken quarter and some sort of tabbouleh cous cous salad from New World supermarket

In the afternoon, we went back to Whakapapa Village to see if there was a chance to do the Tongariro Crossing (that's how enthusiastic our friends were...), but it was still raining up there lah, even though the weather at Ohakune was good. So, after the to-ing and fro-ing, in the end we went back to our accom at Haven Lodge.


Our room with a 2.5ft bed and a pull-out sofa bed...


...which looks out into the kitchen also... so we can conveniently watch the water boiling, eh? ;)

The SO went out to find wooden planks, newspapers, etc. to make a door and cover up the bar counter hole, as we were doing some stir-frying for dinner and didn't want all that garlic fumes to come into our room.


Shared dinner for the night - cabbage, egg and noodles, plus instant mushroom soup (not shown)...cooked by moi

Outside of the cottage, there are some interesting plants.


White and maroon tulips


??


? but this plant is quite common in NZ


Some kind of shrub