August 6     176 km     RAETIHI HP     ($NZ 22)

From the Manawatu to Rangitikei and Mt Ruapehu

Leaving on SH54 northwards, we climbed steadily, glimpsing snow on distant tops. At Stormy Point Lookout (1,378 ft) we had our first view of the magnificent volcanic cone of Mt Ruapehu, perfectly ringed in snow. This is North Island's highest peak (2797 m or 9,230 ft), used in the 'Lord of the Rings' films to play the part of 'Mt Doom'.

Descending to cross the Rangitikei River at the Ngahere Reserve (tent-camping only), the wattle (mimosa or acacia) trees were aglow with golden blossom. After 43 km, our road met SH1 (from Palmerston North) at Vinegar Hill, and both highway and railway follow the river for most of its length. Next stop was to photograph the Makohine Viaduct, carrying the mainline railway (Auckland-Wellington) high above the river. We have travelled this line, with many such spindly bridges, and wished we could turn off the loudspeaker – 'This bridge is 73 m high and 225 m long and was built in ….' – please, don't tell us! The Rangitikei River has cut a gorge backed by bare rocky cliffs, a fine view from the next lookout at 835 ft. See www.rangitikei.com for its attractions.

On through the bumpy volcanic landscape, with regular scenic lookouts and railway level crossings, past OHINGAITI (just a pub) to MANGAWEKE, 20 km from Vinegar Hill at over 1,000 ft. The village has a café inside a classic DC3 plane, a DOC office, a hotel, a heritage museum and a population of 180, tucked in the hill country farmland between deep river gorges.

TAIHAPE, 21 km further and 400 ft higher, has a pop of 1,800, shops, motels, a holiday park – the Gumboot Throwing Capital of NZ (!) The nearby Mokai Gravity Canyon offers a 180 metre bungy jump. We didn't linger!

Continuing north, the snowy cone of Ruapehu (the highest of the 3 volcanic peaks forming the Tongariro National Park) dominated the view, beautifully clear in the afternoon sunshine. The landscape became bleaker, an army training area, as we approached WAIOURU – the 'Desert Oasis' - home to both army and navy bases, high on the windswept plateau at 2,700 ft. There is no campground, though you can park overnight behind the Army Museum. (Perhaps a good option in summer months, but we wanted shelter and electricity!)

We turned west for 27 km to OHAKUNE, the 'Gateway to Ruapehu' at 2,000 ft, where we once spent a quiet Christmas in a cabin at the Top 10 Holiday Park. But Christmas is low-season, while August is the peak ski-ing season! The staff told us that today is Mardi Gras as well (on a Saturday in August?!) Rejecting the offer to squeeze us into a crowded noisy corner of the park (for $NZ 28), we drove just 11 km further to RAETIHI. Here Patty Plimmer (from the USA) runs a more peaceful campsite, though it was too cold to try the river bush-walk – we are still at 1,700 ft in the shadow of the snow-field.

August 7/9     288 km     WANGANUI, AVRO HP     ($NZ 25) – En-suite Site

A circuit of the Tongariro NP and Whakapapa Skifield, then  south to Wanganui

Our coldest night so far, with thick frost and low cloud on waking. Warming ourselves with fan heater and bowls of porage, we were amazed to see 4 skimpily-dressed teenagers emerge from a tiny tent pitched nearby!

We drove north on SH4, through HOROPITO (a village with a Motor Museum), following the mainline railway at about 2,700 ft. After 22 km we photographed another spindly railway viaduct high above the Makatote River, where the road drops and climbs again, its bridge much closer to the water. The road is very exposed over the next 10 km, through ERUA to NATIONAL PARK village (2,680 ft). A strong wind cut us from the east and Mt Ruapehu's head was lost in the mist.

A couple of kms before the village of NATIONAL PARK is a comfortable hotel/motel, Mountain Heights, whose owner (a Yorkshireman from Captain Cook's native Whitby) also caters for campervans in his field. Previously, we found this a better place to break a cycle ride than the horrendous jumble of backpacker hostels in the village itself. (Despite its name, there is nothing in keeping with a national park, and it virtually closes down outside of the ski-ing season.)

We turned east on SH47 for 9 km, until SH48 headed into the Tongariro National Park (World Heritage Area) and climbed snow-wards. After 7 km, the ski resort of WHAKAPAPA is dominated by the enormously misplaced 'Chateau' hotel (built by someone who had never been to the Loire Valley). There is also more affordable accommodation, including a holiday park, and an excellent Visitor Centre, at 3,725 ft. The Tongariro Crossing is a very popular one-day walk (in summer – at present, it is only possible with ice-axes and crampons!)

The road spirals another 6 km to IWIKAU, the end of the bitumen and start of the snow-field at 5,285 ft. A brief walk (it was bitter cold, misty and sleeting) revealed ascending bus and car parks on black volcanic gravel, ski-lifts to the lower slopes, a van with coffee and hot dogs, a first aid post and traffic wardens! Not many visitors were ski-ing - listening to 'Ski-FM' (the only station available on our cab radio), we learnt that conditions today were 'poor', with only one ski field open – and that for beginners!

Back down to the main road, SH47 at 2,870 ft, passing several signs for short walks among the hills or to the rapids on Whakapapanui Stream. On across the bleak volcanic plateau through driving rain for 17 km, before turning east on SH46, through forest and past Lake Rotoaira. We heated some soup for lunch on its shore, watching the black swans, then continued to the junction with SH1, south of Turangi, by the remote Rangipo Prison.

The 53-km section of SH1 from here to Waiouru is called the Desert Road, sometimes closed by snow in winter. Not strictly a desert, but indeed deserted! It climbed from 1,800 ft to 2,850 above Tree Trunk Gorge then remained at around 3,000 ft, as bleak as England's high Pennines. At WAIOURU, the Army Museum has a good café and currently a Gallipoli Exhibition to mark the 90th anniversary of the ANZAC landings. See www.armymuseum.co.nz.

We returned to OHAKUNE, to complete the circuit of Tongariro NP (about 175 km or 110 miles, not counting the side-trip up to Whakapapa ski-field). By now it had stopped raining and we called at the village store for a pair of 'Johnny's Famous Chocolate Eclairs' – as good as we remembered them, a wicked treat at just one NZ dollar apiece! It's also a good place to buy local carrots and other root vegetables.

From RAETIHI, SH4 led south for nearly 100 km to Wanganui, though it was by no means downhill all the way! We wound our narrow way through the green bumps of the volcanic landscape, following the Mangawhero River on our right, with an unstable storm-damaged cliff to our left. Down at 700 ft we admired the Raukawa Falls from a lookout platform. At KAKATAHI, 33 km from Raetihi, there was a store/tearoom, then empty hills and pine-forest.

We met the wide Whanganui River at UPOKONGARO, 16 km before WANGANUI city (spelling different from river!) Past a historic relic of a brick kiln (1869), where thousands of bricks were loaded onto a steamer and taken downstream; then an old Pa (Maori fort) site. On the opposite (west) bank, we noticed the Top 10 HP, before driving through the suburbs of Wanganui East, past the Durie Hill Elevator (1919) and the City Bridge, to meet SH3 (from Palmerston North) and cross the river on Cobham Bridge.

We headed straight for a fill of diesel (warning light on for the first time) and then to the Avro Motel and HP, which has a private shower and toilet for every power site and is the closest camping to the city centre. Even better, it has an indoor hot spa to rent by the half-hour. We retired warm, clean and very relaxed!

Wanganui (meaning 'big river mouth') is a historic river port founded in 1840, now home to 43,300 people. The river banks had long been a centre of Maori settlement. NZ's oldest restored (and only remaining) working paddle-steamer, the Waimarie (built 1900), makes daily river trips in summer. See www.wanganuinz.com for other attractions. For us, it's a good place to catch up with some writing, planning and internetting. It even stopped raining long enough to dry the washing!

Sad news: Robin Cook, a former Foreign Secretary in Blair's Labour Government (but best remembered by us as 'yon wee Health pixie' when he was Minister for Health), has died while walking in the mountains of his native Scotland, aged 59.