29th April Tuesday Ohakuni

Rained the whole day!

We went for a drive since there was no message about fishing for Richard from the informaiton centre.

We drove along route 49 toward Waiouru. It was an army training place. Turn left along SH1 towards Lake Taupo. This area was underneath Tongariro National Park. After the eruption of Mt Rauepehu, this area had become a desert with very little vegetation. On the left of SH1, it was desert like, but on the right it was green with grass. The soil on the left was porous and held no water after the rains, this was why it was bare.

We went to Tongariro Trout Centre. The rain was very heavy and we got very wet. My mum was a wise one, staying dry in the campervan. We stopped at Turangi for petrol and carried on route 47. We had lunch at the tip of Lake Rotoira. Carried along 47 and passed Sir Edmund Hilary outdoor pursuit centre. Along the way, vegetation was mainly barren with heather and flax. We came across four Lord of the Ring film sites. Plains of Gororoth, Mount Doom, Ithilien and Mordor. We tried to get closer to Mordor but the mist was so thick we saw nothing.

"It hasn't been the same since Saruman left".

Richard was still trying to get to the river to see if he could do some fishing. But it was not accessible, we went back to camp. We had lamb for dinner. NZ lamb was good and cheap, so was the beef.

Still raining in the middle of the night. BIG BIG RAIN!

There was another couple from the UK. They were on a BMW motorbike. This couple had been travelling for the past 2 years. Started from Canada and then to USA, then to South America. They shipped their bike to NZ and carried on. They anticipate another 2 years before they finished.