Our Great Adventure: Whatapaka Day 149 14/02/2015

After leaving the campsite we drove the short distance to Huka Falls and arrived just as coach loads of tourists descended! This is where the Waikato river, after leaving Lake Taupo, slams into a narrow chasm and drops over 10m into a surging pool. The footbridge over the falls was full of tourists so we had a short walk up the river and then had the footbridge to ourselves for photos as the coaches had moved on. We then drove back into Taupo, had a look around a few shops buying a couple of books and two water camels (or bladders as they are called here) and found a decent cafe for mid morning coffee. Whilst Taupo was a decent sized town in a lovely situation it was a bit touristy, so we jumped back in the van and hit the road. We were heading for the Tongariro National Park not far away on the central plateau (ave height of 800m) and the road initially ran alongside the beautiful lake. We stopped at one of the many laybys and enjoyed lunch taking in the magnificent view. After just over another hour's driving we arrived at Whatapaka and checked into the DOC (department of conservation) associated campsite. It was around 3pm so we headed up the ski road to Iwiku village which was nestled at the foot of the mighty Mt Ruapehu, the largest mountain on the North Island, towering at a height of 2797m and still covered in snow on its summit. Even though there was a chair lift running it was too late for us to go up so we walked 15 minutes in our sandals across rock to Meads Wall. It looked very similar although much smaller, to the Inaccessible Pinnacle on the Cuillin Ridge in Skye and even had people climbing along its ridge. Over the other side was a huge drop, which must have given the climbers some real exposure. The whole area was used as a film set for the last movie in the Lord of the Rings trilogy ("Return of the King") and we could see why it was chosen as the dark, black lava rocks really helped convey the sinister nature of the land of Mordor! As we were there the 2 other volcano mountains, Mt Tongariro and Mt Ngauruhoe cleared of their cloud, giving us superb views as well as a glimpse of the route we were planning to do tomorrow. After a quick look at what the ski routes were like in the winter from the piste map at the visitor centre, we left the rather ugly village (typically full of empty chalets which would no doubt look much better when the snow arrived). At the much more ascetically pleasing village of Whatapaka we had a look around the visitors centre and learnt a bit about the geological history of the place as well as the local wildlife. There was a very interesting exhibition including which animals and plants are native. Baz (caves) had told us that the bat is the only native mammal. A lot of the other flora and fauna were imported mainly from the UK such as stags, stoats and domestic animals. However the biggest pest is the possum, imported from Australia, which the New Zealanders are trying to control as it attacks all native birds (including the endangered Kiwi) mammals and plants without exception. We were also surprised that heather was brought in by westerners; no wonder at first glimpse of some of the moorland landscapes we think we could be in Scotland! A quick meal at the campsite was followed by an early night as we had a 6am start in the morning for a long day of walking.