Day 10: Taupo - River Valley

After a good night sleep we got on the bus again and readied ourselves for another day in the tough life of a tourist.

At this point the word tough applies more than ever as my body was aching everywhere from all the activities we had been doing for the past week: kayaking, digging, cave exploring... not to mention all the bruises and scratches I had from scrambling through the caves in Waitomo and from sliding and walking on the rocks while climbing mount Doom... I can tell you I looked pitiful ( I mean...more than usual) :-)

I looked like someone who had been on the losing side of a fist fight...the only thing I was missing was a black eye. Despite of that I was still sporting a big smile. All worth it! :-)


So with another day in front of us we went to visit another section of the Tongariro park (this time by bus) and it was a mere two hour walk that compared with the walk from the previous day you could say it was a walk in the park... or at least that's how it felt.

There must have been a fire nearby because there was a helicopter flying back and forth picking up water.

First we walked towards the tree line

and then we travelled through a wooden area

Then we went through a section of the track that reminded me to the mountains in Ireland.

There was an area where you could actually see the edge of the lava flow (from when this area was formed)

And we kept walking until we reached the half way point

Then the plan was to stop by the waterfall and have lunch

Actually I have a nice video of the waterfall but unfortunately it's tilted sideways so you would probably end up straining your neck trying to watch it. As I am looking after your health here and the bandwidth (full disclosure) I'm sorry to report that I decided to skip it.


Then we followed the river all the way back to the bus

And we finally made it back to the bus.

I don't think I've shown you what our discreet bus looks like

Perfect for camuflage in the forest... not so much on the road though.

Then at some point we left the main road and started driving on a small local road...until the road ended and a van came to pick up our luggage... we walked down the dirt track in front of us until we finally made it to River Valley... don´t bother looking for it in google maps... it's not easy to find as it' as isolated as it comes in NZ if you are curious you can see its location on the map below.

The landscape was full of mountains filled with sheep at both sides. It was extremely secluded... not a soul in many miles around but the lodge was really nice. Check it out by yourself.

Not bad uh?

The installations were basic (Outdoor toilets and showers) and you had to bring your own food.

But it's ideal to spend a few days in a peaceful retreat...


View Thailand-New Zealand 2012 in a larger map