In early September I had to make a quick trip to the town of Taupo in the middle of the North Island for work. Although the weather wasn’t great and I had to work almost the entire time, I was able to make a quick trip to nearby Tongariro National Park one afternoon.
We drove around the shore of Lake Taupo, the lake is the largest lake by surface area in New Zealand and is in the caldera of the Taupo Volcano, although the low grey clouds hanging over the lake made it hard to appreciate the size. Leaving the lake we turned into the National Park and between breaks in the cloud we got glimpses of Mount Ngauruhoe.
Our next stop was the massive Chateau Tongariro hotel for high tea. We had a lovely selection of cakes and sandwiches which we enjoyed in the old hotel.
From our table we had a perfect view out towards Mount Ngauruhoe and watched the view constantly change as the clouds rolled past. Mount Ngauruhoe is actually an active volcano which was used as Mount Doom in the Lord of the Rings films, although it looked pretty peaceful from where we sat. After tea we continued up the hill to the Whakapapa ski area on the slopes of Mount Ruapehu with the hopes of having a view over the volcanoes towards Taupo. The base of the ski area was hidden in the thick cloud however so we made our way back to Taupo to get back to work.
The next morning dawned clear and sunny, so I took advantage of the better weather and went for a run on the trails near the hotel. My first stop was at a spot called Hot Water Beach on the Waikato River.
The chilly early morning meant that it was easy to see all of the geothermal vents. As I followed the track through the forest small steam vents would appear through the trees and in many places the streams I crossed had a strong sulfur smell.
My final stop was Huka Falls, I had been the previous year, but it was good to see them again from a different vantage point. The heavy rain over the previous few days meant that there was a lot more water than the last time I visited. By this time the early morning mist was starting to burn off and I needed to turn around and head back to the hotel to start work.