2nd February 2019 - From the frying pan into the fire!

And so we have left Tongariro with its risk of volcanic eruption......

A hole in this roof in a mountain hut we passed yesterday was created by a volcanic bomb from the 2012 eruption. Fortunately no one was sleeping in the bunk underneath! And lahar………

.....a violent mudflow composed of a slurry of pyroclastic material, rocky debris and water, which can flow at up to 100km an hour!

However, look what was waiting for us in our 11th floor hotel room in Wellington.....

We are concerned about the staying in your room and waiting for instructions bit!

Its been a long drive, for Geoff, today. We have passed through lots of different type of countryside and seen an increasing number of sheep and cattle, but still no pigs! We have, however, seen the first fields of standing crops. Mainly barley, but some wheat, then also maize, potatoes, other brassicas, and something like swede or turnip tops which in places were already being tucked into by the sheep.

As we have got nearer to Wellington we have also begun to see a much more typical mountain range, the Tararua range which sits north of Wellington.

Although we woke to very low cloud and drizzle this morning the cloud gradually lifted and by the time we arrived here it was warm sunshine and blue skies again. Sorry folks, we realise that‘s not what you are getting back home!

Having arrived here late in the afternoon I quickly did a load of washing and then we headed out to explore and get our bearings, and get something to eat, leaving the room looking like a tip and the bathroom like a drying room. How embarrassed we were to return a few hours later to find there was a turn down service for the room which we knew nothing about! 😳 Mind you, I expect they have seen it all before, and worse and they did leave us a nice chocolate each. Hopefully tomorrow we will be bit more organised!