This morning I went back into town and made some purchases. I got a thermal base layer top, with long sleeves for the walks when its cold (and for skiing, which I want to try whilst here!), some thermal pants and top (lol!), fully water proof over trousers and coat, some decent gloves and a nice hat, and some super duper hiking socks. I also got a pair of hiking boots too, although my Merrels I brought from home are still good, they are only a low cut shoe, which means on some of these hikes, they will be filled with gravel and mud and probably snow! These boots will be useful in South Africa too, so it was an expected purchase anyway. Kit here is much cheaper than at home, but there is far too many brands to choose from!
After lunch I parked back at my camp site and took the 5ish km round walk along the Waikato River up to the highly impressive Huka falls. The river is yet another beautiful fresh and clear waterway here in NZ. At the point where it is squeezed into the canyon at the falls, it is 10 meters deep and 15 meters wide. The falls are powerful after this water is forced through a 5 meter section. One of the jetboat operators runs from beneath the falls and I watched as one of them stormed up the river towards the falls and flipped the boat around right next to the falls... looked like fun! As I sat for a break I called the Tongariro Expedition company and booked on to tomorrows crossing. The Tongariro crossing is touted as the best one-day walk in New Zealand... so I'm looking forward to that! It's a 6:15am pickup from my campsite, so I got my kit ready early evening and got off to sleep as early as 9pm, it was going to be a big day tomorrow...
Huka falls pictures on facebook
