eNZed - day 15 (29-5-5)

We woke up and squealed about the frost on the windows. Yes! Frost! So we (me and A) reluctantly got up (you know Dave was up and ready to go) and at soup at the shelter area that was the dining room last night. As it was still freezing cold, windy, and raining, we went over to the visitors center where I bought some rain pants (for $55! So expensive!) and gloves and we looked around at the volcano stuff.

Since I was newly outfitted for the rain and cold, Dave convinced me that the key to my day was hiking with him to Taranaki (tar-ah-nah-key) Falls. I thought for sure it would be just like yesterday and turn into amazing sunshine as soon as we set out (it worked for Dave didn’t it?). It was a fun walk in the rain and wind and the falls turned out to be crazy!! There was a cheater (small motivational) waterfall at the beginning of the hike that told of what was yet to come (not really, but it was pretty) and I watched it for a while, Dave took the oportunity to snap a few. Taranaki Falls is a 60’ drop of gushing water coming out of a very small notch of rock! It was spraying all over the place in the wind, but we came very close to the bottom without getting too wet. On the walk back, Dave and I had a nice talk about the novel Dune and having a terrible purpose.

We met up with A at the Skotel fireplace before going off to try and fine some food and a mailbox. We ended up at Fergusson’s. Yuk! Crap music playing and the food was too expensive and wasn’t really something I would go back twice for. I ate fries with a scrunch face. I can’t wait to get away from this weird tomato sauce that’s supposed to pass for ketchup!

After catching the weather back at Skotel, we decided to blow the pop-stand that is Mt. Ruapehu with hopes of finding sunshine over to the west. Mt. Taranaki (aka Egmont) is calling – once we get through Wanganui (wahn-gah-new-ee).

We took the Whanganui (fahn-gah-new-ee) Park Road and got to see lots of sheep and chase some baby goats (after seeing a dead one, and chasing off the mother/father) – which of course led to a classic Liz and Dave bicker – they were so cute! And Dave was trying to get me to run them over.. never mind that they actually did finally get out of the way.. that’s not the point.

The Whanganui river cuts into these small mountains that aren’t rock, they’re just compacted dirt. Walk up to a chunk and you can break it with your hands. Which, if you think about it, does not seem like a good material to cut through to make a road, does it? I’ve never seen so many small landslides (slips in kiwi) in such a small area. It was impressive, but it definitely made me nervous with all the rain we were encountering. There were definitely recent slips all over the place.

The river was very brown and full of mud and dirt and was flowing high, but very beautiful none the less. I wanted to raft it, but it’s cold, and I’m not crazy about getting wet right now. It got dark before we got to finish the drive, but we stopped and star gazed for a bit for a bathroom and roadside encounter. Dave taught me and A about Magellanic Clouds while he took Milky Way pics.








When we finally got into Wanganui, we found out that everything is closed on Sunday after 7pm. Luckily the only thing open was the grocery store. I stocked up on Feijoas, and we had a nice dinner of mushroom soup and bread a the park. Only a couple of loud cars snooped by us, but we slept well.