A Weekend in the Mountains

Last weekend Bree and I went with our friend Sue up to her cabin in Rangataua which is at the base of Mount Ruapehu. Mount Ruapehu is the largest mountain on the North Island at 2,797 m and is also an active volcano. Sue’s cabin is only about a five minute drive from Ohakune and from there you can drive about 15 km up the road to the Turoa ski field. There is also another ski field on the north side of the mountain. Mount Ruapehu, along with Ngauruhoe and Tongariro all form part of the 7,600 km² Tongariro National Park.

Sue’s cabin is quite large and can easily sleep 8 people. From road by the cabin is a beautiful view of Ruapehu but as the locals say “she likes to wear her skirts”. The entire time we were there we never had a full view of the mountain with cloud always obstructing part of her. The weather was fine so we did get out and do some of the local tramps and Sue pointed out a variety of the native flora and fauna for us. We drove up to the ski field but even though it was sunny below it was blowing a gale up the hill. I was barely able to get the car door open to get out and take a few photos. I imagine skiing up there is next to impossible on windy days as there are no trees so it is entirely exposed.

 

Bree with the NZ silver fern

On the Sunday Sue took us to Raetihi, a nearby farming village, to visit her friends who run a small farm. Mary and Andrew lease their land for sheep and cattle grazing but they also are bee keepers. We walked around the farm and sampled a variety of their apples. Andrew used to work in forestry and showed me their small pine plantations that they have on their property. Bree found a nice muddy area to play in and also a sheep skull which she really wanted to take home. In the end I convinced her that just taking a tooth from it would be the best idea. We also sampled the honey and Mary gave us a jar to take home.

Sue has kindly offered to let me use the cabin when Russ comes over so maybe we can make it back up to the mountain when winter comes. I don’t know if the ski season will start before we have to leave at the end of June but if it does I would love to get a chance to ski on an active volcano. In the news this past week I heard that the lake at Ruapehu has been warming up and there is some speculation that there might be an eruption sometime. There have been small blasts of ash in the past but no large eruptions so no one is sure if this is a sign of a small eruption or possibly something more. I imagine they will keep monitoring this and will be able to predict any upcoming eruptions. 



A rainbow as we drive down Mt Ruapehu