Today we bid farewell to Rotorua and all of its burbling, steaming oddness and made our way to Tongariro. Fortunately, I had my trusty co-pilots and navigators with me.
As you can imagine, the drive was amazing. We were blessed with more sunshine so everything looked fantastic.
We stopped and Huka Falls which is easily accessible from the main road. These falls are a spectacular blue color and very fast moving.
After only a few hours we reached our accommodations at Tongariro National Park. We arrived a bit early so we were unable to check in right away. This afforded us the opportunity to go see the Tawhai Falls which were only a 20 minute trek off the highway. I carried my tripod and filters to take some long exposure shots of the falls.
We got ourselves checked into the hotel and found we had the most spectacular view of Mount Ngauruhoe, the mountain that was used for Mount Doom in the Lord Of The Rings movies.
Tonight we had dinner and are taking it easy as we prepare to drive to Wellington and on from there to the south island.