Into the Mountains of Mordor

Another interesting physical geography day! We left the steaming Lake Rotorua to head towards our next stop in the mountains of the Tongariro National Park. All along the scenic drive there were patches of steaming ground where there is geo-thermal activity. We were heading for a place called Taupu as our first stop. Although beautifully situated on the lake, Nigel and I decided against stopping because it was commercialised – and not in a good way! Further around the lake we found some lovely spots to stop and take photos and a café that made a perfect elevenses stop. (As I write this, I keep getting sulphurous whiffs off my body – the residue of yesterday’s mud and sulphur baths. Why doesn’t expensive perfume stay on me like this? I’m almost thinking that I’ll miss it when it has gone!)
We arrived at our hotel at Whakapapa too early to have our room so we went to the nearby mountain resort and Nigel took the chairlift up. I couldn’t go because it took more speed and dexterity than I have to leap on and off the moving chair!! I am sure that Nigel will write a bit about his experience when he returns from his run. At the moment I am writing this sitting in a beautiful lounge in the hotel by an enormous window overlooking the kind of volcano that looks how a child would draw it. I forget to mention that before we came to the hotel we stopped at the Visitors’ Centre and learnt a lot about the local volcanic activity (which has been on a dramatic scale – one explosion making Pompeii and Krakatoa look like minor shakes of the earth!) Also I bought a couple of cards which are giving me some ideas for a quilt. I might have to come to my more artistic brethren for some help in drawing a pattern from the picture!! Tonight we are booked in for dinner here at the hotel – it will have to be pretty good to beat the very tasty meal we ate last night.
Ok here is the alternative version, Marion thought the chairlift looked a little violent for one with an artificial hip, quote “they were throwing children on”. Any way there turned out to be two chairlifts which took me to 6000 feet. The views were tremendous, and the landscape was fascinating. It was of rocks made from lava so that they were incredibly light. If you had the correct shoes you could walk to the summit and look down inside the crater. It was a truly unique experience. I will post the photos when we have a faster internet connection. As Marion said the information centre was interesting, and it is the first area I have ever been in that has a eruption risk status, today is 1 on a scale of 0 to 5, 5 being the most severe. However this is not reassuring as last time there was an eruption in 2006 the experts had just downgraded the status to 0. The hotel even has notices as to what to do in the event of an eruption. Good job we are on the second floor.
All around the hotel are well marked and constructed walks, so on advice from reception I ran one of the walks. It was tremendous, mountain views and ending at a remote waterfall. In all it took me an hour although I did walk some of the uphill sections. Rather put a dark night on Aldersbrook Road to shame.
The hotel is restored to its original thirties décor. The views from the lounge are tremendous and the food was excellent. There is a fine snooker table in the lounge but unfortunately there is nobody for me to thrash. Well now to bed and the start of another holiday week.