Tongariro

We took a really nice hike/walk this morning. Headed out thru a scrub prarie into a moss covered beech forest, along a beautiful stream and out upon a cool waterfall. And the another even bigger one. Very nice. We decided not to go go on fartheras it would be a 4 hour round trip extra. Instead we headed back to the road and then drove up to the end where there is a ski resort. And then we took the chair lifts up. Sandra was a bit nervous at first (we were way up in the air over jagged rocks), but she did really great. We were up at about 2000 meters with bits of snow packs. Had a coffee at the highest cafe in NZ, then hiked up the mountain a bit more. Had some fun sliding down the snow we had come up. Killer views but a bit cloudy. On a clear day you could see a long long way. We'd like to come back and do the crossing some time. In the late afternoon we got on the road for a bit of a jaunt (4 hr drive in light rain) down towards the welligton area where we will cross to the south island tomorrow.