More snow...what a surprise.

It rained! All night!! That drumming noise on the campervan roof kept us awake most of the night. A very soggy start to the day especially with the dash to the loo. Raincoats had to be found before the dash was attempted! We then made a unanimous decision to head off and have breakfast on Mount Ruapehu so we were heading for the summit before 7 am. Imagine our surprise at the sight that greeted us.

Snowballs had to be made and thrown, well we are missing out in the UK!

And Ian is still in only shorts and T-Shirt!!!!!! He's not even wearing socks!!!!!!

And the road to the ski resort was closed!

 After breakfast, another decision was made. Let's go on the 90-minute walk to Waitonga Falls. So this time the waterproofs went on but it wasn't so much the rain that got into everything but the fine drizzle in the low cloud. We should have guessed that this would obscure our vision of the falls but we sort of hoped that the cloud would lift and give us a spectacular view of the falls.

Ian wanted to see Mount Doom. Real name, of course, is Mount Ngauruhoe but it played some part in the Lord of the Rings. We drove to a place called Whakapapa, Chateau Tongariro. Wow...on this side of the mountain the sun shone, the air was crystal clear and the view amazing.

Chateau Tongariro at the base of Mount  Ruapehu

Mount Ngauruhoeor or Mount Doom to Hobbit fans.

The drive to Whanganui was interesting. Sections of the road had been washed away, not sure if it was by heavy rain or river levels. Only one lane open in many places and the traffic was controlled by lights. Should have got a photo but failed miserably! More intent on hanging on for dear life along the narrow track! Although we would only have dropped a short distance had we veered away from the road it was still disconcerting, to say the least. We also stopped to have a look at Tawhai and Raukawa Falls

Finally on the last leg of our journey on the North Island. We make for Waikanae tomorrow and meet up with Marilyn and David. Waka Huia. Roger and Pat The Cat's Whiskers are also back in Wellington so we may get to see them as well.

And only this bird joined us for breakfast,