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Published: September 22nd 2009
Saturday, September 19th
We woke to a rainy morning. Most places we went in NZ we brought sunshine, but the Tongariro National Park seems immune to our charms. It didn't look like there'd be any snowboarding in our near future.
That being said, our first stop for the day was the snowboard shops around Ohakune. Being the end of the season we were hoping to get some specials. There were a few sales and Talita easily found comfy boots. Ferdi didn't have the same luck. None of the boots fitted him properly. It’s an expensive sport and we want to do more research so we decided to wait before we buy our own gear.
Our next order of business was to find a romantic place to spend our anniversary. We went to look at two places. The first was nice but we felt too much like guests in someone else's home. The second place was perfect but a bit on the expensive side. We spent two and a half hours chatting to Denton, one of the owners. He loves to chat and has lived a very interesting life.
By the time we left it was well past lunch
time. We drove around to Whakapapa on the other side of the mountain to go pick up our forgotten gloves. When we got there they couldn't find our gloves which they had supposedly kept for us. They said they'd post it to us when they find them. Yeah right!
Today was turning out to be a bit of a disaster. We looked at a few other places to stay but all were either too expensive or not what we had in mind. Talita phoned Denton and they made a deal. We drove back to Ohakune, got some sparkling wine, then drove back to The River Lodge. The weather was clearing and we got our very first look at Mt. Ruapehu. It's a very impressive mountain, towering over the area.
Once there we unpacked and settled into our gorgeous cabin. We poured some wine and sat reading in front of the fire. Later we took our wine out to the Jacuzzi and sat laughing and chatting while we enjoyed the last light reflecting off Mt. Ruapehu. After a few prayers this day was turning out to be great!
When it got dark we went in for a shower,
made a quick dinner with tea and whiskey, then watched a movie, threw a few big logs on the fire and fell asleep in our huge and comfy bed.
Today's highlights:
1. Settling into our warm cabin at The River Lodge.
2. Our first sighting of Mt. Ruapehu.
3. Wine in the Jacuzzi.
4. Movie in bed.
Impressions of NZ:
This country already feels like our home. We don't feel like tourists anymore. Sunday, September 20th
We woke to a gorgeous sunny day. The forecast was for wind and rain, but there wasn't a cloud in the sky. We were getting spoiled on our one year anniversary!
Denton prepared a huge breakfast of muesli, fruit, yogurt, breads and boiled eggs. With near-bursting bellies we went walking next to the river. Daisy, the local poochie, brought us a stick to throw and we played with her a while. At one stage we nearly wet ourselves laughing when Ferdi threw three sticks into the river and she tried to get them all in her mouth at the same time. Hilarious!
We drove over to the iSite and got a map of the hiking routes in the National
Daisy
She is a playful girlPark. We chose one that is en-route to Turoa ski field. It led to a waterfall of 39m and we enjoyed the hour and a half round-trip. The middle part of the route took us over alpine grasslands where we got a great view of the mountain.
Back in the van we drove on to the ski field. It covers a pretty big area with most of the slopes very high above the car park. We needed to find a private spot in the snow to enjoy our sparkling wine and for this pleasure we had to hike up a good deal of volcanic wasteland. We finally found a flat rock sticking out of the snow with a great view of the mountain that also afforded us some privacy. We popped the cork and enjoyed our sparkling wine, wondering that a whole year had passed since our wedding. How time flies when you're having fun! In some ways it feels like we've been together for ever, when in reality it's only been four and a half years. We still love being married! There really is nothing like it.
When our butts were numb and our sparkling wine finished
we made our way down to the van, then drove back to the lodge. We got the second bottle of sparkling wine and went to sit in the Jacuzzi. It was awesome to sit in the warm pulsing water, drinking wine and looking at the mountain.
After a shower we went into town for dinner. The first restaurant we tried was full, but the second had a log fire burning and plenty of space. We enjoyed a delicious meal and a mouth-watering desert. Mmm... Life is good!
Today's highlights:
1. Celebrating one year of marriage.
2. Enjoying sparkling wine on the snowy slopes of Mt. Ruapehu.
3. Enjoying more sparkling wine in the Jacuzzi.
4. Great dinner and dessert.
Impressions of NZ:
We feel like we could live pretty much anywhere in NZ. It's an awesome place. Monday, September 21st
We woke late to another gorgeous day. Once again the sun was shining and there wasn't a cloud in sight. Denton served us another huge breakfast and we spent all morning chatting while we enjoyed the sunshine and played "fetch" with Daisy.
Before we left we asked to see Denton's vegetable patch. He had a
few things growing and gave us some beetroot, spring onions, parsley and baby carrots. He also gave us all the left-over fruit from breakfast! That was great! We're really attracted to their lifestyle; living on a beautiful piece of land with a river and great views of the mountain... Who wouldn't like it?
We had considered doing the Tongariro Crossing. It's a beautiful full day hike between the volcanoes, but Talita's knee still bothered her a bit and we didn't have our proper hiking gear with us, so we decided to do that at a later date. Instead we drove to Turangi, a town located to the south of Lake Taupo. It was only 70km away, but the road we chose took us through the desert like area south-east of Mt. Ruapehu. It was amazing to see brown hills instead of green. The views of Mt. Ruapehu and the other volcanoes on this piece of road were great once we got past all the power-lines and pylons.
Once in Turangi we found a camping spot and did some laundry, then sat baking in the sun. Later we made an experimental dinner. We actually tried to cook instead of
just throwing something together. The result wasn't what we hoped for. Maybe we should stick with what we know... After dinner we had a shower, followed by a movie.
Today's highlights:
1. Delicious breakfast.
2. Spending the morning chatting with Denton.
3. Great views of the volcanoes.
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thetravelbugtribe
The travel bug tribe
Congratulations! What an awesome way to spend your one year anniversary!