TA Day 87

TA Day 87: Saturday 15 March 2025

Whakapapa Village - Mangatepopo Car Park

We started the morning in Rotorua, where we didn't leave until 10 sharp, to no one's surprise. Then it was time to make our way back towards the trail.

Along the way we stopped for some geocaching-breaks and interesting spots, like the memory plaque of where New Zealand's first geocache was hidden, Taupo Mud Pools (much more dramatic than those in Te Puia), The Hot n Cold River, the mighty Huia Falls and the World's Coolest McDonald's.

Then we went to buy food at New World south of Taupo, and when we left New World we realised it might be a bit tight with time unless we planned to hike after dark.

So we drove towards Tongariro, quickly checked in on the holiday park, put everything in the fridge and then drove to Whakapapa Village.

We said See you later, and started our walk for today. It was now late afternoon, but we made good progress because the trail was amazing, and after spending some days off trail it felt really good being back on the trail, in the silence. Unfortunately it didn't take long though until we had to release some built up stress after five days of traveling together with Kim's parents, with few moments to ourselves or to relax. It's really nice to spend time together but doing all these touristy things within such a short time frame is stressful.

Apart from that the walk was really good. The sun was slowly beginning to set, and bathed the landscape in orange hues.

When we reached the car park Elisabeth and Patrik, our private shuttle service team, was already there. We drove back to the holiday park and started making dinner - wraps. The holiday park didn't have any utensils, but luckily we had bought a knife at a secondhand store earlier today, so we could cut our vegetables. Perfect!

After we enjoyed dinner we quickly got to bed, as tomorrow would be an early morning.

Today's:

Distance: 10.37 km

Ascent: 312 m

Descent: 312 m

Tent nights: 46/87

Weather: Sunny, some clouds