Whakapapa & Taranaki Falls

I slept in and when I woke up I was pleasantly surprised to realize that I hurt only a little. I walked to the cafe and had a wonderful breakfast of bacon and eggs. I hate the way bacon is prepared in America and so this was a real treat.

After eating, I walked to the road that led to Whakapapa Village and I stuck my thumb out to ask for a ride. Just then, a girl in a pink jacket appeared ahead of me and she snagged a ride. Luckily, a van with a nice young couple stopped for me not long after. They dropped me off at the visitor center where I spent some time learning about the local landscape, and watching a video about a recent eruption. I then set off to hike the Taranaki Falls Trail. This was an easy, two hour, 6 km loop. I briefly considered going onwards to Tama Lakes which would have added another two hours but I nixed that idea as I wasn’t adequately provisioned.

The hike was a nice, sedate one. After hiking through a forest for about 50 minutes, I came to a bridge with a waterfall under it, and I thought it was Taranaki Falls. I felt a little let down and I considered turning around and not completing the loop. Fortunately, I carried on, because the real waterfall came into view a few minutes later and it was a very pretty waterfall. After admiring the waterfall, I stayed on the loop as it ascended into scrubland. It started to rain at this point so I knew I made the right decision to forgo Tama Lakes.

Back at Whakapapa Village, I started looking for a good place to hitch a ride back to National Park Village when I saw the same girl in the pink jacket snag a ride. I couldn’t believe my luck. I then bumped into Dave, a Scotsman who was staying at the same lodge as I was, and he said he was waiting for Mathias, a German guy with a rental car who was also staying there. I tagged along for the ride when Mathias arrived.

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