Road trip to the volcanic plateau

Drove up to Ohakune via Whanganui and forests and hilly paddocks full of cows and lambs and very green grass.

Ohakune is a ski town, just south of the three mountains and Lake Taupo in the middle of the North Island, and on the edge of Tongariro National Park. So, scenic!

Next day we picked up a couple of mountain e-bikes and got shuttled to a starting point so we could cycle back to town on an old coach road. The road was made for railway workers who were building the main trunk line and train viaducts in the national park in the 1880s. The cycle track has the distinction of being the only cycle track going through a national park, in the world. Apparently.

The bikes were great. Heaps of power and grippy grip with their big tyres as we went down some steep rocky bits and around hairpin bends.

First stop, before we headed downhill into native forest. Mt Ruapehu beyond the sheep. Spring snow hanging around but a warm day This was Mischa's birthday, so you can see I've done better this year than the ropework torture course last year in Adrenaline Forest.

One of the decommissioned train viaducts.

And another. Walked over this one to a lunch spot. 

A stop with native clematis, which is currently flowering everywhere. We've planted one in our yard and it's going great guns.

Coming to the end, the track skirts green as paddocks.

End of the cycle track, going through a  gate to get onto a picturesque riverside trail and toodle into town for a mocha.

Back in town - where you could shoot a cannon down the main street and hit nothing (thanks Covid) - we had an excellent hotel with hot pool and scrumptious dinner and breakfasts. Chef did not open a tin.

It was a cold morning when we headed out of town for home the next day. We popped up to the nearest ski field (Turoa) before we headed south, and it was zero degrees in that deserted place, with snow flurries and wind that lifted the bonnet and prevented Mish opening the car door. But, gorgeous. Old growth forest, waterfalls, the volcano right there in the freezing mist - what's not to like?

Then, the big carrot.

Ohakune is known for its carrots, hence:

That's the big carrot, and in the adjacent and very nicely designed adventure park playground, a root veg collection and brussel sprouts too. We got our hats on - cold.

Stopped at the Tangiwai memorial soon after leaving town. Site of a major disaster Christmas Eve 1953, when a lahar swept down Ruapehu in the night, moments before the Wellington-Auckland train went through. It took out a rail bridge over a river and the train went into the mud and water and tumbling rocks. 151 people died. 

Came back through quiet farm country on a narrow back country road to Whanganui, dodging bits of tree that had blown down overnight. Bit windy. We had the best day for a sunny cycle, that's for sure.