Our next day of hiking will cover the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, supposedly one of the best trails on the North Island. But with bad weather on the mountain, and extra time before we have to be at Whakahoro for our canoe trip down the Whanganui River, we’re sitting today out.
Although the forecast today was for rain most of the day, it turned out that we only got a little bit of rain. There were clouds nearly all of the day, though the sun did manage to poke out a few times. It was a bit frustrating sitting at the holiday park not doing anything, but, seeing clouds in all directions around us, especially in the direction of the mountains, made it clear that had we gone up the crossing today, we would not have had a good time.
Hannah arrived in the morning, Peter and Susanna in the afternoon, and Miriam later in the day. They all had a rough time crossing the creeks, which were much deeper than when we crossed yesterday, and it was good to see they all arrived safely. There were also at least another half dozen hikers besides them here.
I got a trash bag from the holiday park to put my sleeping bag sack in. Hopefully, the extra barrier will keep it from getting wet again.
Tomorrow, it is not likely we will hike either; the forecast for tomorrow is lots of rain. The forecast for January 1 looks hopeful, though.