Thiessen Visit Part 2: Wanganui to Waitomo via Tongariro National Park

Here are Lyle and Donna with the waterfall that is our favorite stop on the Parapara -- the very scenic road between Wanganui and Tongariro National Park. It is very windy, but gorgeous. Donna and Molly took their meclizine while Lyle read books in the back seat...so lucky!!

We stopped for coffee and to visit the museum in Tongariro National Park...we were going to ride the ski lift to the top of Mount Ruapehu, but it was so cloudy we didn't think it was worth the long, cold, windy ride. A unicylist who we saw at the top took this picture -- We drove up in the car. Must have been a long ride for him!!

While in Tongariro we took this hike to Taranaki Falls -- You can see Lyle and Donna waaaay down there to the left of the water fall. They hiked all the way down and behind the falls. It was very cool. It was about at the half-way point of our hike and just about lunch time, so we introduced them to our new art of picnicking. If it's a short hike, we throw in a baguette, cheese, salami, hummus, dark chocolate and an array of fruit and delicious crunchy things (chex mix, wasabi peas, etc). No PB & J for our guests!! They seemed to like it OK. I think we'll have a new tactic for ski season lunches when we get back to Colorado. Mmmm....

After traipsing through the national park, we hopped back in the car and headed to Waitomo where we stayed at the Redwood Lodge. It was a cute little B&B tucked way down a country road. It was very peaceful...and they had an adorable black lab that we could all ooh and aah over. Rather than forcing them to choke down another picnic, we took them to the Huhu Cafe for dinner. It did not disappoint, as Donna demonstrates with her chicken, stuffed with cheese and wrapped in bacon...what's not to love? In case we were too starving, the B&B made us a delicious hot breakfast (pancakes! eggs benedict! scrambled eggs and bacon!) - which we needed to sustain us for the next day's adventure in the Waitomo Caves. Stay tuned!