Taupo, Turangi, Okahune

Saturday 19th February

We got away by 8am, and made it to Huka Falls before three bus-loads of tourists turned up.

After that we visited the Craters of the Moon, where you can walk along wooden walkways above steam vents and fumaroles. An impressive landscape, and there was a bit of bubbling mud.

We drove out to a lookout above the Wairakei geothermal power station, which I would have liked to have seen closer up.

At Wairakei Terracces we decided we'd had enough geothermal sights and didn't do the Walkway or a tour, but we did have a (second) proper breakfast.

Heading into Taupo, we did some clothes shopping and went to the supermarket to stock up on food for the Tongariro Northern Circuit. Getting there was slowed down by all the runners on the road, but in Turangi we visited the i-site and bought maps for the walk.

We headed off at 2.50pm for the haul along the Desert Road, where there were police cars everywhere. There were clouds, but Ngaurahoe's peak was visible. In Okahune we found a cabin in the holiday park, took everything out of the car, and prepared for the three day walk ahead. Ruapehu was behind cloud, but the views were still pretty good!

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