Taranaki Falls and Tama Lakes

We awoke to blue sky everywhere except the 2 mountains we walked over yesterday. Surprisingly the highest peak, Mount Ruapehu, was clear, it also has a good covering of snow.

I had planned for us to go to Tama Lakes, a 12 mile round trip which would give us good views to the mountains in both directions. On the way we also passed Taranaki Falls. We took the high route across the open moors rather than through the trees. Good views to Ruapehu but not to Tongariro. Also good light on Taranaki Falls, must be 60 feet or so high and I was able to take from the front, side and from behind the curtain of water. It was a touch damp so I had to cover the lens except when taking the shot.

Quite a long walk up to Lower Tama Lake and then up steeply to Upper Tama Lake. The top of Ngauruhoe was in clouds but still made for moody images. Then retraced our steps back to civilisation. My back was painful on the way back so Rob and Jan took all of my gear except for my camera. Diclofenac wasn’t enough today. The alcohol in the bar back in the village seemed to help, as did the hot belt after I had showered. They seem to have the hang of serving me a warm beer although they seem to think me strange for some reason!

Great clouds over Ngauruhoe while in the bar so I raced up to our room to get my camera and tripod for the last few shots of the day.