8th October: Taupo to Whakapapa

Awake early, stick mp3 player on to get back to sleep. Not get lagged, but not quite on local time yet. Then a bit of Kiwi TV, which is frankly rubbish.
Head into Taupo i-site (tourist information office to Europeans) and look at weather forecasest. Yuk. even more Yuk in Tongariro. Which is a pity, since my vague plan involved doing the crossing Thursday. Pick up a leaflet on Tramping in Taupo, pick something heading North along a river that's almost certainly the Waikato. About 6km to a thermal area, which is frankly a bit dull compared to Rotarua, just sinkholes that steam a bit. Apt though, I've just been listening to the Hobbit Audiobook, and this comes up just as the dwarves approach the ruins of Dale with steam issuing from the gates of Erebor. If this place had a dragon though, it's not up to that much.
Annoyingly the hydration pack I'd bought cheap off Amazon turns out to utterly depend on a fragile plastic O-ring holder, which has broken, leaving the thing awkward to drink from and dribbling down my front at very opertunity.






Return to car, and then on towards Tongariro - perhaps the forecast was wrong?
Little baby Daihatsu struggles up the hills,but eventually to the Ski resort at Whakapapa
(pronounced Fakapapa. Not quite sure why the original transcribers decided to use 'Wh' for an F sound in writing Maori, but they did. Good room for a song, good meal in a restaurant that would have a fantastic view were the weather not quite so filthy.
Superglue fails to fix the hydration pack. Twice.