Passing Through Mordor

Dad and I awoke to find that all the rain in New Zealand had decided to pour on our location. I had hoped to go on a hike, but the wind was howling and the rain just wouldn't let up. As we packed to leave there was a break. So we checked out quickly and ran to the Taranaki Falls trailhead. 

This is the view from above Taranaki Falls

After an hour of walking, we came to the falls. Chris had let us know about this one. It is a waterfall you can walk behind, which I did. (I'm the blue speck on the right hand side of the waterfall.) I would recommend that if you are going to walk behind a waterfall on a windy, cold day, wear waterproof pants. I only had jeans, so I remained wet the rest of the hike.

The whole area is simultaneously beautiful and haunting. And with such heavy mist, it felt like we were walking through Tolkien's world.

 

Although the mist was enjoyable, it did obscure the view of all the mountains the entire time we were in the area. So Dad and I drove up Bruce Road up to the ski area to have a look higher up the mountain. Turns out the higher you go, the worst the visibility.

I wanted to take pictures of my Smaug socks in Mordor. We got about two pictures before large, cold raindrops suddenly started to pelt us. A quick retreat was made back the the heated car.

 Photo credit to Dad.

We drove north, skirting along the east side of Lake Taupo. I'd never seen the lake, but had always wanted to. The eruption that created the lake apparently spewed so much ash into the air, the Romans and Chinese noted the change in the color of the sky.

After lunch in Taupo, we drove to Raglan to stay with my Dad's childhood friend. Bit of the Raglan area looked eerily similar to the mountains back home. The only difference was that there were more cows in the area.