After spending another night in one of the DOC campsites our wallet was looking a bit healthier as it cost us nothing to stay there, again, but I am sure that 3 nights without a shower and after a half days canoeing we weren't smelling too healthy. It was at that point that Katie said she wanted to stay somewhere luxurious the coming night. She wanted a campsite with a shower!
Next on our list of places to visti was Tongariro National Park. This is home to the Tongariro volcano and on that volcano the Tongariro Crossing. This is the best one day alpine walk in the whole of New Zealand as it takes you across the volcano skirting around the rim and allows you to look down inside the live cone and also into the dormant and extinct cones containing lakes. Very beautiful and a huge draw to the 1000's of people who come here to do it each year.
We arrived at the tourist information centre to find out about the walk and were planning an early start the next day. We checked the forecast and the curse of the Whites struck. Now I am sure that we managed to shake this curse in January on the Kepler Track but it has come back with vengeance. Not only was the weather unsuitable for a safe crossing when we wanted to leave but it was getting progressively worse for the following 5 days. Due to the exposed nature of the track and the fact that you are in alpine territory the weather can get severe at times and with winds forecast at over 70kmh we decided that the walk could wait. We might be able to return back to the National park after heading North for a bit if the weather improves but if not it gives us a good excuse to come back to NZ again in years to come!
All was not a loss though. The rain that was coming down when we first arrived had dissipated and this allowed us to get a shorter, lower altitude walk in to some waterfalls in the area. Walking along this track gave us a good view of the volcano (well at least the lower slopes of it) and even though we had nice blue skies the missing top of the slopes was hidden behind a dark veil of mist and rain clouds. It was then that Katie told me that this was the second time she has been to Tongariro to do the crossing and the second time that she had been denied due to bad weather. That sealed it for me… it has to be third time lucky!
We finished the walk and pressed on to Taupo in search of a comfortable place to stay and a reliable company for me to book a skydive with. We found both. The skydive is booked for tomorrow and our night accommodation is at the DeBretts Spa resort. Katie's hot shower that she was longing for we upgraded to a visit to the campgrounds thermal pools. Needless to say the accommodation wasn't quite as cheap as it has been over the past few nights though.