Rover Roams Ruapehu

Boxing day, Doug and I set off in the Landrover to pay Christmas visits to my sister (and family) in Taupo, then to travel on further around the lake to my brother and sister-in-law at Motuoapa.

We had a pleasant trip - the road wasn't too busy - and had our usual coffee and lunch stops along the way.




Monday morning we awoke to drizzle and heavy cloud. We really hoped that the cloud would lift, so that we could proceed with our plan that was to travel down the Desert Rd, then take the Tukino turn off and make our way to the Tukino ski field on the eastern side of Mt Ruapehu. (The turn off is to the right, close to the highest point of the Desert Rd, before you reach Waioruru.)

The cloud began to lift, so
we were hopeful that we would get a nice view of the mountain before too long.

So far the road was 'a piece of cake'. There were rough patches but nothing compared to our previous outing.

Finally we reached the gate. We were quite expecting that our trip would end here, as you need to get a key from DOC to continue on up to the ski tow. It was a nice surprise to find the gate unlocked, so we were able to start on the 'real stuff.' There were impressive views over the edge! Most parts of the road were pretty good. The banks were steaming as the sun warmed them.




The mountain continued to clear as we climbed.

Finally we reached the end of the road. There were two ski huts here. We could see the ski tow, over a valley to the right.




To the left was the valley down which the most recent (2007) lahar travelled from the crater lake. See video here.




Very soon the cloud began to descend again - we had been very fortunate to have caught this small window of beautiful clear views.




After a picnic lunch, we made our way back down the mountain, stopping once to admire the alpine flowers.