So the next day having had 2 full days of skiing we are both feeling a little bit stiff and sore and decide a more gentle day taking in some of the walks within the national park is in order. Rather than stay in Whakapapa for another night we decide to spend the morning taking in a couple of 40 minute hikes in the town and then drive round to the other side of Mount Ruapehu to the town of Ohakune and the ski resort Turoa. The weather is lovely so we make the most and do a ridge walk and then a walk through one of the many forests to a beautiful falls. After following 2 trails in Whakapapa we took the van round the mountain stopping at a scenic spot along the way to have some lunch (another advantage of campervan living). We arrived in Ohakune and rather than do some of the smaller walks we decided to take on a 90 minute trail which included a walk through the forest then onto an amazing boardwalk over the top of marshland before climbing down about 100 steps to arrive at a stunning collection of 7 waterfalls including the tallest waterfall in New Zealand. The walk was lovely but it was a killer on the already tired legs to walk back up those 100 steps so we were both glad when we got back to the van to have a rest. There was only one holiday park in the town so we headed there to park up the van before going for a walk in the town centre. As with Whakapapa the town is just a passing place for the ski and snowboarding enthusiasts and had nothing much to offer other than a few cafes, restaurants and ski hire shops. It didn't take long for us to explore the town so we headed back to the campsite to make use of their internet and chill out for a while before having dinner.The next day and we had hoped to try out the skiing at Turoa however the weather had finally turned for the worse so we had to unfortunately give it a miss. We still had some time left on the internet voucher we had bought the previous night so we spent the morning catching up with some emails and of course keeping you all up to date with our blog. You cant have the weather all the time and we had just been grateful to get the 4 great days we had and bad weather gives you a good excuse to get caught up on other things so we weren't too bothered. Soon our tummies were letting us know it was lunchtime so as we didn't get to go skiing we treated ourselves to lunch in one of the many restaurants in the town. After feeding our faces it was time to hit the road again and begin our journey south to Wellington. It was too much to drive all in one go so we were stopping at a larger town called Palmerston North as we had a few chores to do.