Sunday 20th January, 2019.
We stayed the night in a lovely riverside campsite to get some washing done and top up the batteries on the van.
For breakfast we stayed classy and had a pie and ice cream. I mean did you even go to New Zealand if you didn’t eat pie for breakfast? No I thought not.
Tongariro National Park was on our agenda today. Another scenic road led us up into the mountains and into the National Park itself.
First stop was a small waterfall and a pool of which a Gollum scene from Lord of The Rings was filmed. Cool spot and nice little waterfall. Bonus it was only a short 15 minute round trip, too.
Second stop was Teranki Waterfall and part for the Northern Circuit for the big Tongariro track. This was awesome as the entirety of the walk was shrouded by Mt Doom. The famous volcano the ring was dumped in. Loved it!
The track yet again was awesome, well laid, over and through rivers and waterfalls and up towards the impressive Teranaki falls. Lovely way to clock up 15k steps!
Next stop was the information centre to see if it was viable to do the famed Tongariro crossing which is a 6-8 hour alpine crossing through the volcanic National Park. Unfortunately no shuttles are running tomorrow as the winds are too high, so a replan was in order!
We decided to head north towards Taupo and Rotorua and bring our plans forward by one day. Great decision as on the way there was a Thermal pool and geothermal area with bubbling mud and steaming waters.
After a 30 minute dip in the thermal pools we were refreshed and ready for a little more driving north for our spot for the night.
Quality day, especially getting to see Mt Doom, definitely a bucket list moment! Tomorrow we’re heading to Huka falls and a Maori experience evening which we are so excited for!
Hope you’ve had a great weekend ❤️?