Mark Smalley

Thursday, 17 Mar - Turangi
The poor weather seems to be following us around. It rained a fair bit last night and is now overcast. We head off 40 km south-west to Tongarino Mountains with the idea of checking out the Tama Lakes Track but the clouds are so low that it's not on and tomorrow gales are forecast, not a good thing on the ridge of the saddle. With this visibility a flight with www.mountainair.co.nz is pointless as well.

We settle for a couple of shorter walks, starting with the 15 min Whakapapa (pronounced fa-ka-pa-pa) Nature Trail, mainly showing the unique flora of the National Park.
Then we move on to something more serious, the 6 km 2 hour Taranaki Falls Track.
We finish off the afternoon by driving along Bruce Road 6 km past Visitor Information to the Whakapapa Ski Area where ther's a short climb to Meads Wall, a spectacular rocky outcrop with great views - there's a bit less cloud now - that was one of the filming locations for Lord of the Rings.

From this area at about 1700 m altitude you can take a chair lift (for skiing) up the mountain but today it's not going, due to bad visibility. Might try it again tomorrow.

Our evening meal in the motel is eggs and bacon, salad, yoghurt.

Despite the weather - it's pouring down at the moment - we've decided to stay a third night and will be leaving this area on Saturday.

posted by Mark Smalley @ 5:00 PM