Volcano!

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Cloudy, occasional rain and drizzle

It was raining all night, so it was a good decision to stay indoors and forget the tent for a few days. It continued to rain as I drove up to Whakapapa village. Good views of Mt Ruapeha, with lots of snow around the crater - some of the snow is still discoloured from the ashfall and lahars from the September eruption. Drove to the top of the road to begin with and had a quick look around. It feels very weird to be in a ski resort in December but totally out of season. Huge (1m+) boulders in the skiing areas - hope they get lots of snow to cover them. It's totally different to the only other volcanic ski area I've been to (Etna), where the small cinders make for smooth surfaces.

Went back down to the visitor centre. The volcanic hazard level is low at the moment (except that the September eruption had 10 minutes notice, so what to Kiwi geoscientists know), but the forecast says there will be NE winds and rain on the northern side. Ankle too bad to attemot a summit climb anyway, and I haven't brought boots to cope witht he snow, so won't do that. Maybe another time if the ankle improves in the next year or two.

Given the weather, decided to drive to the south side of the mountain, above Okahune. Drove to the top of the mountain road and then walked along the Waitonga Falls track - almost deserted. Steep climb up to the top of the ridge through several steep sided gorges. At the top of the ridge was open moorland with a good view of the summit crater. Then the track desceded, again steeply, to the waterfalls. Not too much water at the moment, despite the recent rain, but there's a spectacular 40m drop over lava flows. Walked the 3 km back to the car and decided to continue driving around the mountains so I could see Mt Tongariro, the only one of the 3 volcanoes I've not actually clapped eyes on yet. Went across the sire of the March 2007 (and 1953!) major lahars, but there's not really anything to see now.

Never go to see Mt Tongariro. As I was driving north along the Desert Road - which goes through boggy heather moorland - the rain and mist descended again, and stayed with me until I got back to the motel.

Had dinner in National Park township at the Station Cafe - a good restaurant on the platform - there's only 1 train a day in each direction (on the country's main line). The owner, on hearing I was a geology student, went out the back and got me the local ant-volcano Civil Defence booklet and his scrapbook on the 1995-96 eruptions to read, as he though I might be interested. Result!

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