Day 46: Random

This morning we awoke to find ourselves in a cold, central New Zealand.  It was quite cold outside, but we had hot showers and a heater, so we were good.  We had camped at the base of one of biggest mountains in New Zealand.  There is a ski slope up the road from where we camped, and there were lots of people parked along the road taking the bus up to the resort.  The road is limited to chains or four wheel drive, so few could actually drive up there.  It was a bit overcast rainy, so we decided not to go up and ski.

Our RV, with the mountain in the background.

We had absolutely no plan for the day other than remembering seeing a hike a ways down the road, but we figured we could find something to do.  We went to the trail, decided it looked good, and headed off.  What immediately amazed us was just how green the forest was.  Despite being winter, the trees, the underbrush, everything was completely green.  Moreover, most of the trees were absolutely covered in moss, which added to the liveliness.  There were also some trees that looked like palm trees, green, in the winter.  The trail more or less followed a river, which came off of the mountain and quickly formed into small rapids.  At several points, the trail got close enough for us to go explore the river.  From there, we got great views of the mountain.  It is too bad that we wouldn’t do any hiking on the mountain, but it is Mordor, or at least, it was the filming location for Mordor in the Lord of the Rings, and one does not simply walk into Mordor.  In fact, a hike on the mountain requires an ice pick and mountaineering skills, of which we were unfortunately unequipped.

Hiking along, or in this case, above, the river.

The trees were covered in moss.

Look at that forest!

The river flowed very quickly.

We finally reached the end of our trail, just behind where we had been camping that night.  Regardless, we were better hiking the way we did, as it meant doing the second half downhill instead of up.  Once we got back to our vehicle, we were off once more, now completely unsure of what we were to do.  A few miles down the road, we passed a sign for a twenty minute walk to a waterfall, and we figured, at twenty minutes, there was no reason not to go see it.  As there were few hills around, we had low expectations of this supposed “waterfall,” but when we reached it we were quite impressed.  The water freefell at least twenty feet over a small cliff, so it definitely looked and sounded like a waterfall.

The waterfall.

Climbing up

After that short adventure, we finally got out of the national park and started meandering our way towards Lake Taupo to the north and to a small town that had a visitors’ center.  Along the way we saw a sign for thermal pools, so we decided to check it out.  What we found was a public pool heated by the thermal vents, where several people were swimming.  We couldn’t see in without paying, but we did their short walk, where we saw several bubbling, steaming thermal pools.  They looked freaky, because despite their small size, they seemed to be incredibly deep.  A couple were so small that they were no more than bubbling mud.

Swans on a small lake we passed along the way.

From there, we finally made our way to the small town.  We found out about several campsites along the lake where we could spend the night, and some trails in the area.  One of nearest ones to where we wanted to be was up a logging road, but we decided to go for, hopefully making it out before the sun set.  Driving for about thirty minutes, we finally made it to the end of the logging road.  There had been large rocks scattered all about the road, and a couple slick spots where we spun a bit going up the hills, but the roads had kept pretty wide, and we figured that if a logging truck could make it, so could we.  Besides, at the worst point, we wouldn’t have had to back up for more than a mile or two before we could turn around.

We made it up the road!

The hike was definitely worth the drive, though.  It was an hour-long hike, and we were racing against the sun, but the forest was amazing.  It was an old growth forest, meaning it was in a forest reserve beyond the reach of the loggers, and had never been chopped down.  As we entered, it was noticeably darker than a normal forest.  Like the first forest, it was incredibly green, but the trees were so much more massive.  Many of them had to be close to five feet in diameter.  The size and density of the flora made the forest unlike any we ever walk through, and a very cool hike.  There was a sign that said there were kiwis in the area, but we did not see any.

Old growth forest.

Now that is some old growth.

We made good time and got out before the sun set, even with enough time to make it all the way down the logging road before it set.  When we got back to the main road, we quickly found a picnic area right on the lake and sat down to watch the sunset.

Coming back down

Sunset over the biggest lake in New Zealand and Australia, Lake Taupo.

We then went to find a campground.  The staff at the first we came to did not answer our repeated knocks at their door, so we moved on.  A few miles further up the down, we found a place to stay for the night.  Despite not having a clue what we would do today, it turned out great.