Based out of WTMC Ski Lodge, Whakapapa Village, Tongariro National Park
Team: Me, Mark, Spike
For some insane reason, after the success of the club families group gourmet weekend, I suggested that we should organise for the lodge to be advertised open over summer, and manned for a couple of weeks as a "drop in for wayward trampers". Which, of course, meant that I had to be there for a period of time.
After a week in Nelson, we had a long weekend at home (which included my mothers 50th birthday party) before heading up to the lodge. The weather report wasn't fantastic, but the day was glorious for our drive up - including the diversion up State Highway 4, which was a road we had never been on before.
The lodge was silent when we arrived. We were the only people scheduled to be there, quietly hoping at least someone would come join us. The space felt massive, even though we only used one bunkroom and one bathroom.
Tuesday morning, the weather was fine. Awesome. Time to get out and enjoy it. We opted to go and do a couple of short walks, to fit in around Spikes naps. We even picked things we hadn't done before.
Mounds Walk - very easy. Basically flat till a set of stairs up to the top of one of the volcanic mounds. Given you have only just started driving, or are nearly at your accomodation, I can understand why not many people bother with this one. Its interesting from a geography perspective, and you get a gorgeous view of the mountains from the top of the mound, but its also not a big deal.
Tawhai Falls Walk - slightly more difficult, and although it suggests its shorter than Mounds, it seemed longer. There are two down and back options to view the falls from near the top, and from all the way down in the water at the bottom. The falls are beautiful and well worth the visit, I am astounded at having never bothered with these before. How did we not know these were here? That said, there are MANY old former tracks splintering off from the main track, and I can well imagine some silly tourist ending up getting lost by trying one of them when not paying attention.
In the afternoon, we went exploring around the top of the Bruce. We have always driven straight up the main Bruce Road, and parked somewhere at the top or down the side, so neither of us really had any idea about the lodges on the other side of the road. We followed the 4wd track from the side of our lodge, down through past Scouts and dropped out below the top day parks, before heading up the down loop, to the cafe, and up past some of the lodges directly above the cafe before dropping on to the 4wd track again and coming home.
Wednesday the weather was awful. Misty, almost zero visibility. We spent 95% of the day in the lodge, only venturing out to go for a swim at Tokaanu. Which was a bit of a mission with getting a 9 month old 5 minutes down to the car and back.
Thursdays weather came and went. We had snow showers outside the lodge in the morning, then it cleared and we went for a quick walk to Meads Wall, heading home when it started hailing. The hail got heavier once we were back, and then we were treated to a gorgeous sunset.
Friday it was time to head home again. Of course, the weather had cleared. So we took advantage of it, and pushed out Spikes naps in order to take him in to Mangatepopo Hut. Parking was difficult as it was busy and we were a bit late heading in (and we had a short disagreement with an American girl about carpark reserving when there was no sign of a car). A helicopter kept buzzing overhead for track work, and it felt really odd being so disorganised and wrongly dressed (jeans and t-shirts with sneakers). We figured we were only going 20 minutes in, and were still early enough in the day that if anything happened, help would be easy to find.
After a quick morning tea, it was back to the car and home via lunch in Hunterville. An awesome week, really, even if we did suffer from a bit of cabin fever with the bad weather and lack of company!
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