Tongariro National Park I (Day 7)

It's the main reason why people visit this area - to visit the Tongariro National Park (TNP), which is the oldest national park in NZ which is awarded World Heritage Site status by UNESCO.

The TNP has 3 main mountains, namely Mt Tongariro, Mt Ngauruhoe (ie Mt Doom in LOTR movies) and Mt Ruapehu, as well as lakes and craters.

(Click for bigger view)

Day 7: Our intention was do to the 6- to 9-hour Tongariro Crossing so that we can get to see views like this:



But when we got to the visitor centre at Whakapapa Village, the weather was like this :


And the weather forecast for the next day was - wind speeds of 70km/hr at Tongariro!

Hence, there was no chance for us to do the Tongariro Crossing, but I can't say I was extremely disappointed.

With our usual dilly-dally pattern, plus taking photos, getting side-tracked, etc. I won't be surprised if the walk will take us 10 hours to complete. Ten hours leh! Don't play, play!


(After lunch at Ohakune) Even with wet weather on this day, our two friends still wanted to do the 2 hour trail walk, but I wasn't too crazy about walking in the rain (even with a rain coat) and chose to wait for them at the visitor centre. The SO was game at first, but changed his mind when the rain got heavier.


So our friends took off, but after a very short start, decided to give up the idea and turned back to the visitor centre.


Warning on the notice board of visitor centre


The mountains at TNP turn into a popular ski resort in winter - I didn't know one can ski in NZ.

More on TNP to come...

Cutie Meow Meow

At Raurimu/Tongariro area, we stayed at Haven Cottage. Attracted by the light and warmth, many insects would fly into the cottage at night. I asked the SO to release them outside, so they would have a better chance of life, instead of getting crushed accidentally inside the small cottage.


Our cottage, with the toilet/bathroom/laundry room in a separate "box".


The other bigger and more costly cottage.

It was so cold in the evening that the SO would open the door slightly ajar to release the insect (a moth) while in a squatting position, and while doing so, a furry head suddenly popped around to peep inside our cottage, which gave the SO a fright!

It was the neighbour's cat, which with a little coaxing, decided to pay us a visit. :)




As usual, the SO could not resist cuddling the sweetie (I think it's a boy).


This is how the fellow looks like when he/she first saw us, a day or two earlier (before the night of his visit). Didn't look so friendly, eh?

The kitty was perched on this damp rug at the cottage next door, which we discovered (from the boy) was not his home. When we first arrived, the cottage next door had 2 visitor dogs, one of which was a brown & white boxer which walked through the fence to say 'hi' to us...very cute.

Road block ahead

What's up ahead that's causing a road block?



Mehhhhh!!


Sheeps galore! Herded by (what else, but) sheepdogs!

I'd never imagine I would encounter this scene, much less be in it! It's machiam like being in a movie. Hee hee!


They did say that there are more sheeps in NZ than there are people.

Edited: The above happened on Day 6 ( Day 5 was spent in New Plymouth, walking around, ating out at more fancy places and shopping!). We were en route to the Forgotten Highway 43, a so-called Scenic Route, which means it's also very winding, and which means I had to shut out one of my senses so as not to get motion sickness. So, I missed out on most of the scenes along the way, though I dare say that among the four of us, I napped the most. :P