Tokoroa

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Well, how to begin. I boarded a train in Wellington that would take me to the National Park Village. The trip was quite relaxing and I passed through some amazing scenery. Toward the front of the train there was a small viewing area from where I was able to get some decent photographs. At National Park, I met up with Graham; a friend of a friend who was going to go with me on a canoe trip down the Whanganui River. Well, things didn't quite turn out as planned.

First, I ran into a small financial crunch. I had maxed-out my credit card, so I paid it off through electronic banking. The problem was, was that it was late Friday afternoon back in Canada when I had made the payment, and it hadn't been processed yet. So, after a brief consideration of the alternatives, I went back to Graham's where we spent the next few days. Uncertain weather prevented us from trying the Tongariro Crossing (a seven-hour hike, considered to be one of the best one-day walks), so we relaxed around the house. The next day we took his river kayaks and headed to Rotorua. There we jumped into the kayaks (okay...I fell into the lake, got out, then got back in my kayak), and headed across to Mokoia Island. A short, but steep hike took us to the top for some great views and lots of birds (unfortunately, I wasn't able to get any good shots of the birds as they were well-masked by all of the foliage. On the way back from Rotorua, Graham gave me a bit of a tour of the area, including a walk along parts of the Kaituna river - at 21 feet, the Kaituna has the worlds highest commercially rafted waterfall - oh yes, I think I'm coming back for this!

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Photos

Kaituna River
The twenty-one foot waterfall