Muesli, yogurt, fruit, pancakes, maple syrup and toast for breakfast. Today's outing was looking doubtful as it was very grey outside and we were thinking of heading for the mountains. What the heck, we'll go anyway - just remember to pack the waterproofs and woolly hats.
Before long the fog had set in.
It's about an hour and half drive, so perhaps the weather will have improved by then...
No, it's actually raining by the time we arrive. The good thing is that there is a National Park Visitor Centre here so at least that will give us something to wander around. Interesting displays, especially about how the Tongariro NP has grown over the years, acquired double World Heritage status (both cultural and environmental), and about management in the park. They seem to have the same problem with invasive species, just that they are different ones, and introduced to NZ by the Europeans mostly. Heather is a big problem, introduced for grouse shooting in 1800s - the grouse died but the heather took over, crowding out the native flora. They have introduced a heather beetle as biological control. Also have a two native mammals here, both bats. The one bat is very unusual as it flies but also feeds on the floor on insects, like a shrew.
Finish in the centre and decide we might as well don our wet gear and walk to the Taranaki Falls. It says it's an hour each way. As we set off I wonder who they are pacing it from. We set out into the foggy landscape. Despite the heather there's some interesting plants around. It's funny seeing Hebe in their natural habitat when we regard them as ornamental plants. There were lots of lovely lichens around as well, so there are going to be quite a few (perhaps boring to some) vegetation photos today!
A red lichen on a mossy tree.
Another lichen
And some ferns, all growing on the trunks.
And some ferns growing on the ground
A landscape shot for some relief - at least the lack of sun means the colours are not so flat!
More plants
A really lovely and interesting ground lichen
Some native Tussock Grass and Hebe bush
The walk to Taranaki Falls forms part of the Tongariro Northern Crossing. This is where our paths diverged, we didn't fancy quite that long a walk today. The famous Tongariro Crossing walk required alpine experience and equipment at the moment. The avalanche risk was also very high.
We found the river. Eric still thinks he needs to be looking for Dippers - we didn't like to spoil his fun.
More lichens...
Well I don't think much of this waterfall.
More landscape views ( and the fog of course)
It was getting quite thick by this time!
Red moss on the boulders.
At last we reach the proper waterfall - which was quite impressive
A lichen that we thought looked l.ike a picture of a dog sitting - perhaps a poodle.
That's more like a waterfall.
We were at the bottom of the volcanic area - we just couldn't see the volcano.
And it was cold. The temperature had dropped to about 5deg.
Time for tea and scones in the Fairmont Chateau Tongariro
And a warm in front of a roaring fire
