Chapter 5:

cross-posted from: https://no.lastname.nz/post/1458667

This part of our adventure covers about 2 days.

First off was a stop on the Waikato river and Huka Falls

Leaving Huka Falls in Taupo, we head south to Turangi to pick up a replacement LPG gas heater for the van as the old one was faulting, see post "The Next Setback

Once we picked up the new heater the plan was to head to the snow at Tongariro National Park. Unfortunately it looked like the snow was well above the road-end so we bypassed Whakapapa and headed straight down the Desert Rd. It was nice to see the re-built road where it was closed over summer. On route we had clear skies and a fantastic view of the mountains.

After coming off the desert plateau we passed through the interesting area around Flat Hills with it steep pumice cliffs and river gorges.

It was then off to Feilding for an early stop by the river. I took the opportunity to install the replacement heater for the van, although we didn’t need it this night.

The next morning it was finishing off the last couple of things outside of the camper that I didn’t manage to complete with the onset of darkness.

The girls met a road-schooler boy and his family’s young pup, played at the river for a while while we set up breakfast then emptied the grey-water and topped up the fresh.

It was then off to Palmy (Palmerston North) for showers, laundry, lunch and shopping. This seemed to take up most of the day. With what little daylight we had left (remember this is the week of the shortest day) we headed to Otaki beach where the girls enjoyed lighting a fire on the beach and a hot chocolate after dinner.