Up hill and down dale

If this video plays (no guarantee) then by the time you have finished watching it you will have seen over one million litres of water pass over the Huka Falls. Wow! 200,000 litres per second apparently.

It's quite a torrent. Probably not in the league of Niagara, but impressive all the same. And a lovely walk by the Waikato River too.

Could you kayak this?

Probably best not to

You thought there was no selfie?

And this was just a short stop for an afternoon walk along the Waikato River after we had spent the morning exploring Tongariro National Park by foot, and cable car. Eruptions can occur at any time! Gulp!

After our rather excellent night at The Park Ski Lodge, we drove the 15 or so kilometres to Tongariro National Park Visitors Centre, to establish what could and could not be done in a day - well, half a day really. First to get crossed off the list, albeit sadly, was the magnificent Tongariro Crossing. For a man with a recently fractured foot this was a step too far. Although it is "only"about 20km, it requires a thousand metres of altitude gain and loss, on sufficiently rough terrain to be out of the question on this occasion. It is, I understand, a tough walk, taking most people about 8 hours to complete. Maybe another time. But that didn't stop us finding some great places to walk in the park, from bush tracks to hidden waterfalls,

... to bush tracks with fabulous views of the volcano Mount Ngauruhoe and the less impressive Mt Tongariro to its left - thanks Craig for the heads up on my volcano names.

... to aimless wanderings on volcanic rock at the top of the gondola on Mount Ruapehu.

Where as luck would have it there was a splendid cafe at the top offering excellent coffee with some pretty impressive views. And that I believe is Mount Taranaki (the one that looks like Mount Fuji) poking its head out of the clouds over by the west coast.

Overall we probably managed about 6-7km of walking, so not too shabby but not nearly enough to tackle the crossing - yet! I've added a picture of the crossing to give a flavour. I definitely did not take this picture! Just wish I had!

But we did manage to get some pics of the sheer remote wildness of the park, even if we were no more than 10 minutes from the top of the gondola (which I didn't even have to admit!)

A couple more pictures from on Ruapehu in Tongariro Park before I go on...

My new vehicle

Not far now

On the bush walk

And a panoramic showing Mounts Taranaki (you have to look closely!) and Ngauruhoe

From Huka Falls, we headed north having spotted a quirky hotel offering thermal hot pools on the doorstep and a doorway into chintz. We weren't disappointed on either score. The private hot pools were indeed fabulous and for most of the time we had them to ourselves (apart from the semi beached whale)

The chintz was also as expected,

... but the food was plentiful, the wine was cheap and there was pool table, which Nareesa refused to play on, in favour of giving me good hiding at cribbage!

The Okoroire Hot Springs Hotel. Built and opened in 1889. I recommend it if you ever want quirky, welcoming and a relaxing dip in thermal hot springs thrown in!

And so to Thursday and our route home. But not before our appointment with hobbits. Having failed to gain entry last time we were down this way, I had had the foresight to book in advance and a visit to the Lord of The Rings / Hobbit movie set was on. Not often am I this good at planning! And I was, to be honest, expecting very cheesy, especially after our previous experience of the rubbish gift shop, but to my surprise it was actually a really good tour. They don't let you off the leash too far, but with a knowledgeable guide, with just enough anecdotes to make it interesting without boring the pants off you, it was 2 hours well spent. It seems obvious to me now but the hobbit holes are of different sizes so they can film hobbits in front of the big ones and Gandalf in front of the small ones! Elijah Wood isn't actually 1 metre tall and Ian McKellen isn't 3 metres! Obvs!

And we finished the tour with a Frogmorton Ginger Beer in the Green Dragon, served by Rosie Cotton (all true except the bit about Rosie). Had to stay off the ale of course! Didn't want to do a "Pippin" and give away any secrets. (Yes, I know that was in the Prancing Pony in Bree - well I do now).

And so our short "holiday" brought us back to the Auckland traffic, which we had mistimed for the beginning of the easter public holiday, so it was at a bit of a crawl we staggered back to north Shore. A quiet weekend in store, staying local, walking on the beach and just maybe an occasional wander into the local bars. Then we are off up north on Sunday. Some pictures, as usual, to finish...

Bag End

A hobbit. I will get trouble for that.

Cheers from The Green Dragon.

And cheers from her too.

This way

Inside The Green Dragon

Gollum ... and some bronze statue at the Matamata Tourist Information Centre, now renamed Hobbiton!

Seems a good way to finish. And if I have got it right, I have worked out how to upload video too. Oh dear!