The following morning we grabbed breakfast at the hotel before heading to the rental car place to pick up our car for the rest of our time in NZ. We had a four hour drive ahead of us from Wellington to National Park so we hit the road. We could already tell a difference between the north and south islands of NZ as there were more cities along the highway. And a lot more options for food if you needed to stop for a quick snack break. 

We stopped and grabbed a coffee at a local coffee shop in the town of Foxtown. We asked where the closest public restroom was and she told us it was in a bright orange building right next to the windmill in town. We found out it is a full size replica of the windmills in the Netherlands and is the only fully operational one in the Southern Hemisphere. Before we left the town to continue our drive to National Park, I wanted to try the hometown soda, Foxton Fizz. We tried the raspberry and cocktail flavor. We both preferred the raspberry flavor but they weren’t bad for sodas. The soda company is one of the last independent soft drink companies in New Zealand that’s hasn’t been shut down by Coca Cola and Pepsi. 

We again made a couple stops along the route for some drone footage. Grant got a cool shot going over and through one of the bridges. He didn’t keep it up for long as it was a super windy afternoon and was afraid something would happen to the drone – he actually struggled a bit to get it back to him but succeeded. When we drove into the small town of National Park, we realized there wasn’t much to do and since it was the day before a national holiday (ANZAC day) we learned there was really only one restaurant open in town. 

While checking in to our room, we asked the receptionist about the shuttle service for the Tongariro Alpine Crossing hike and she told us the hike would likely be cancelled the following day due to cold temps and low visibility. They had actually cancelled it the day we were checking in and she said she was shocked since it was such a nice sunny day, but the cloud coverage was too thick at the peak so was cancelled due to low visibility. She told us to keep a check on the website as they would update whether or not the shuttles would be running in the morning. After taking a quick nap, we headed to Spiral Restaurant to grab dinner. We went at the perfect time as we beat most of the dinner rush. By the time we finished, they were having people placed on a waitlist. We initially wanted to enjoy some dessert, but the waiting staff seemed stress with all the customers so we closed out and headed to the local convenience store to grab some snacks for the hike tomorrow, even if not the one we’d planned. 

Checking the alpine crossing weather and shuttle schedule, we decided to forgo the big hike even if shuttles were running. The temperature with the wind chill was supposed to be about 15-20F and we were definitely not equipped for that kind of weather. And the only shuttle scheduled to run in the morning was the 5:45 am and neither of us wanted to wake up that early for a “possible hike”. 

The next morning we woke up around 7 and quickly checked the shuttle sites to see if they ran any that morning. The alpine crossing was “strongly discouraged to hikers due to low visibility and cold temperatures” so all shuttles had been shut down for the day. So we headed to Whakapapa Village (which in their native language the “wh” sounds like an “f” so it threw us off every time someone said the word) to figure out the best hike to do that day before heading north. We initially planned to do the Tama Lakes hike which the rangers said gives you a similar type feel to the Tongariro crossing, but we decided to stick with the Taranaki Falls loop since it was pretty cold and windy. 

After our 2 hour hike around the loop, we headed to Waitomo where we had another adventure day planned in a cave. We stopped in the town of Turangi to grab some lunch and coffee for the rest of the drive. Once we arrived in Waitomo, we checked into our hotel and our receptionist asked if we had noticed his hat once he saw our address. The receptionist was wearing a UCLA hat but when asked if he attended, we learned he just liked the colors of the hat and had actually never been to California. It is crazy how a college in the states has now become such a clothing brand in other parts of the world, especially Australia and New Zealand.

Looking at available dinner options in town, we found nothing that sounded of interest so we decided to head to the town of Otorohanga for some ramen. What should have been a short 15 minute ride turned into about a 40 minute drive. As the road was shut down due to an accident, we had to take the long route through windy, dark back roads. We hoped eating our food there would help give it time to clear up but unfortunately it didn’t. Once back at the hotel, we prepped our bags for the cave activity and enjoyed an episode of Bondi Rescue (which we grew addicted to on the last leg of our trip) before heading to bed for our last full day of our trip.