Next stop on the Global Subway, Tongariro National Park. It was just an hour drive from the Whanganui River through beautiful green topography and farm land...
We had some time to kill before our airbnb check in, so we did a big grocery run (our next stretch are all is stays with kitchens) and then went to the Tōngariro National Park Visitor Centre to help map out our four day stay in this area.
There are lots of great hikes around here, the crown jewel being the Alpine Crossing. It's largely considered one of the very best day hikes in the world. It's a demanding 19k hike that crosses a live volcano. It was the location of Mt Doom for Lord of the Rings fans. It's an Alpine hike, so it's very weather dependent. The weather forecast is for downpours the next couple days, so fingers crossed we'll be able to do it. If not, we'll consider coming back through on our way back South at the end of the Summer.
"Gollums Pool"
We drove by Tawhai Falls and lucky for us the downpour paused. It was a quick 15min walk but we did a family run, inspired by Paige who brought the mojo.
The falls is often now called "Gollums Pool", as it in was key scenes in Lord of the Rings.
We decided to do some LOTR nerding out and had some fun with it. This was the result.
Side note on this cool ring. When Eoghan and Rachel came by for a biscuit in Queenstown earlier this year, Eoghan gifted this ring to Paige. We're on a mission to bust it out around the country & send them pictures of it on the move.
We spent the afternoon settling into our awesome airbnb while it poured rain. We knew it would be cool when this was the back and forth message with the owner prior to our arrival.
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