But we will start with the high of the mountain. Today we are booked in for afternoon tea at New Zealand’s longest gondola ride and highest restaurant – the SkyWaka gondola. This rides up 2020m to mount Ruapehu, which is a haven for skiers in the winter months. Fortunately for us the sun in shining. Having said that, it was 21 degrees at the base of the gondola but 12 degrees at the top, which was a bit of a shock. Either way, the views were spectacular. Here’s a few..
At the topcake but no tea! They had run out!!!!! How can you run out of tea?? Honest, you couldn’t write it. Back down to earth and we were off to walk off the excess of cake at Tawhai Falls which, for fans of The Lord of the Rings, is known as Gollums Pool.
That was a nice gentle walk so we decided to walk off a bit more cake on the Taranaki Falls walk which is 6k walk and takes in great views of Mount Ngauruhoe, which, again for Lord of the Rings fans, is also known as Mount Doom.
Mount Doom or Mount Ngauruhoe if you prefer. I know which is easier to say.Taranaki FallsA lovely walk with some great views It was a challenging walk especially as Lynn fell shortly after we started and ended up with a badly grazed hand. How/why she fell is still open to discussion. There are a few theories being bandied about. The first being, a)she saw a Kiwi and dived to catch it; b) A teenage kiwi came out for the daytime munchies and rugby tackled her to the ground for food or c) the pesky pampas grass on the path caught her foot. My personal theory is that she had filled her water bottle this morning with the wine in the fridge and had been supping it most of the afternoon. We’ll never know. But it needed Julie to administer first aid when we got back to base.First aid in progress…Biggest plaster we have applied.
Batham Life 
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