We started the day with a stroll around the town of Ohakune - home of the big carrot. It is the off season here as this is is really a winter tourist destination - Skiing! It is also a big vegetable growing region - the big crop being carrot (also potato.) It didn't take too long as most of the shops and restaurants are closed during the summer.
Next we drove to the local DOC office at the National Park, then up the mountain to take a look at the ski fields. We considered a ride on the chair lift, but they weren't operating due to high winds. We decided to go for the Waitonga Falls walk to stretch our legs a bit.
This Waitonga walk is a gradual climb through beech forest to the Rotokawa subalpine wetland. There is a boardwalk through the grasslands that provided great views of Mt. Ruapehu, then we were on to see the falls. The track takes about an hour and a half to complete (about 3km.)
After about 15 minutes on the track we started a gentle climb of about 600 metres, a good bit of it a wooden staircase with views back toward the town of Ohakune and the rugged landscape beyond. About half way though the walk we reach Rotokawa, a large area of open tarn and wetland. There is a nice bench seated on the boardwalk providing a great spot to pause and enjoy spectacular views of Ruapehu. The Rotokawa clearing is believed to have been caused by fires years ago - and in this harsh mountain environment it takes hundreds of years for the native forest to regenerate. On the far side of the boardwalk the track re-enters the forest and begins the gradual descent toward Waitonga Falls. The area hasn't had much rain of late, so the falls weren't flowing very heavily.
We still enjoyed the walk very much and it was another glorious day of sunshine and warm temperatures - but very breezy!
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