We're staying at the Skotel in National Park. It's a backpacker motel that claims to be the "Highest Hotel in New Zealand" (1140 metres ASL). And it has a much more laid-back attitude than most hotels. And, thankfully, we were able to do a little laundry during our stay. So, we're ready to go again with a fresh set of clothes!
We decided against the Tongariro Crossing. Yes. After all that planning and all that talking... we blew it off. The mountains are almost totally shrouded in clouds (and have been for weeks). That makes for some cold, wet, windy, miserable tramping. Not ideal conditions, to be sure.
So, we opted for what the people at the Skotel called "the Mini Crossing." It was a two-hour hike to the Taranaki Falls. It was an wonderful tramp through open tussock lands, nearly-tropical forest, subalpine scrub, rocky flats and river crossings. Jeff took a bit of a spill at one point and scraped up his knee but it wasn't anything serious and he trudged onward.
The Taranaki Falls turned out, just as the Skotel waitress predicted, "A very pleasant surprise." They're at least 50 feet high, cascading down the front of a steep, rock face and into a pool below. The water is icy cold... most likely melted snow from the mountains.
The pictures just don't do it justice, really.
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