Holiday in Tongariro

This past weekend Will and I went on our first trip outside of Auckland this past weekend. Will had the luxury of tagging along on a trip that was completely planned out for him. All he had to do was get in the car and drive occasionally. While I am only working 2 days a week, I am doing all travel research and planning for us so Will doesn't have to after work or on the weekends. It really is fun and I am quite good at it with my crazy love of organization!

This trip started on Saturday when were drove from Auckland to National Park. The drive was about 4 hours and was anything but ordinary. The 4 lane motorway ends shortly after leaving Auckland and all the rest of the roads are windy, narrow 2 laners. We got to see lots of hills, sheep, cows and sky. Once we got to our lodge we heated up some of my baked potato soup (of course I packed a cooler--won't see me paying for every breakfast, lunch and dinner on vacay) and snuggled into bed with hot chocolate.

Views from our drive

Our cozy little lodge in National Park

Our first full view of the alpine park! 

Sunday we got up early to hit the slopes. We went skiing at the Whakapapa ("Faka papa") slopes on Mt. Ruapehu in the Tongariro National Park. This area is best known for the site of Mt. Doom from LOTR. This was my third time skiing and there was a mutual agreement that this was my last try at skiing before I could quit. After the first 2 times skiing Will told me he wouldn't let me quit until I gave it another try. So this was my last try---and I finally liked it! To be clear, I did not leave "Happy Valley"(the bunny slopes), except on my scenic chair lift to the top. The only downer was that you didn't have to be on skis to be on the hill, so there were lots of families just walking across the hill in front of me trying to ski. This part was not fun. It was enjoyable to be able to scale the hills side to side while looking out over the countryside (j/k I was staring at the snow in front of me the whole time). It is quite different skiing at Afton Alps in Minnesota compared to skiing on a mountain in New Zealand. So in summary, I will be skiing again, in fun locations, but I do not promise I will leave the beginner hills.

Not a bad place to ski, eh?

The Smith's at the pinnacles of Mt. Ruapehu

Mt. Doom from up close 

Sunday night we continued our road trip to Lake Taupo ("Toe Po"). This was about a 1.5 hour drive through the National Park and down to the lake. It was an absolutely beautiful ride, especially because we drive along the lakeside at sunset. Will even stopped to skip some rocks. It was pretty cute!

Monday we went to the thermal pools in Taupo. Taupo is in a big volcanic area with lots of geothermal activity. There are several places where you can soak in pools filled with cooled off mineral water (otherwise you would burn!). It is like a really big hot tub. It was very peaceful when we went in the morning. Later on we went for a cruise on the lake which was enjoyable. Because it is Winter here, the lake was almost completely empty making it very nice.

The thermal pools. It was sooo steamy!

On a beach at northern tip of the lake looking over the mountains

Tuesday we had to come home *sniff*. We stopped at Craters of the Moon geothermal park, then hit the road. The drive home from Taupo was about 3 hours. It's so crazy that so much beauty is so close to our home.

It was so nice being on "holiday" and we didn't want to come back to the real world. Even though I'm only working 2 days per week, it was nice staying in places where we weren't responsible for things and could just do as we please, together.