31st January 2019- to Tongariro

On we go again, heading south on highway 5 towards our destination of Chateau Tongariro hotel in Whakapapa. Perhaps this is the moment to say that although we are in an English speaking country, there are times when it really doesn’t feel like it. I think Whakapapa is an easy word to pronounce, but I may be wrong, and many of the places that we have been through or visited have left us with real problems getting our tongues around all the letters!

We had an uneventful journey. A small traffic jam at roadworks, but no more than 5 minutes and it made us feel at home. Glad to say there are not enough roads here to send you on confusing diversions and even on the main roads there is not a lot of traffic in comparison to home.

It took a long while to find the coffee stop but when we did it was a good coffee and I discovered that the difference between an Americano and a long black is the amount of water that goes in. They each have 2 shots of coffee and the Americano has a bigger cup that is topped up. The long black has a smaller cup, almost filled but is often served with some water separately so you can make it to your taste!

We arrived at our hotel around lunchtime, having driven into much more remote countryside. The hotel dominates the area and seems to be the only decent hotel for many miles. A few motels and hostels, but that is all. It also seems to own the only 2 other eateries in this tiny place!

It looks incongruous in the stunning scenery and is a bit of a time warp when you walk in. But as in most places we have stayed the welcome is warm and friendly and they really want you to have a good stay.

Having settled in we went off to check out our departure point for doing the Tongariro crossing tomorrow and that we had everything we needed. Geoff then felt the need to ‘limber up’ as he put it, so off we went to take the track to the Taranaki Falls. 4 or 5 miles, with some photo stops in an hour and a half. Not bad. We are limbered up!

The walk took us through forest again, but quite different to other woods and forests that we have walked through and we are assuming that it is something to do with the altitude here and the harsher weather conditions (not in evidence today as still in the mid 20’s). Many of the trees were unfamiliar and it felt more like cloud forest with mosses and lichens of different types and colours growing on the trees. It was very beautiful and peaceful

For those of you who may be wondering about videos on the site, we have had a bit of a challenge with that one and we don’t think they are very obvious! If you go to the home page that has the photo of us where I am wearing an orangey top, go to the 3 horizontal bars in the top right hand corner and click or tap on them. Then go to blog and scroll down as far as the first blog on 30th December. Scroll down under there and you will find the videos. There are more to add but it’s a bit of a faff and the WiFi sometimes struggles. Worth watching for though!!!