The Central Plateau

As planned we left home again at about lunchtime on Thursday. The first stop though had to be a drive in to Whitianga where we were supposed to be picking the last 6 weeks of mail up from the Post Office. They had assured Bruce that it would be there in the morning, but when we arrived in the afternoon there was no sign of it. It was pretty annoying as it was 80 unnecessary kilometres as well as wasted time. We had no choice but to leave without the mail and hope that we would eventually get it next week.

For once the weather forecast for the coming few days was for fine weather so we were looking forward to amazing views of the mountains, and also hoping for snow on the Desert Road. Bruce really wanted to build a snowman. By the time we got to Taupo, the Desert Road was closed due to snow showers so it looked like Bruce was going to get his wish. By the time we were up and about the next morning, the road was open so we continued on the road south. First though we took the dogs for a walk beside the lake (Lake Taupo).

The air was cool so hats and scarves were required, but the mountain views were enticing, so it wasn’t long before we were off.

Although there was no rain the tops of the mountains were annoyingly covered with a band of cloud. The closer we got to the mountains the more they became covered with cloud but we managed to get a few shots where we could see most of the mountain.

As the elevation rose we began to see more and more snow although there was never enough for Bruce’s construction of a snowman though.

We pulled over into a rest stop though and took the dogs out the experience snow. I would have to say they were unimpressed. Oscar just wanted to dig holes in the grainy substrate, while Hunter just wanted to smell every bit of tussock.