Tongariro NP Day 2: Tuesday, 7/28

After breakfast almost everyone from our Topdeck group went on a 2 hour hike to see Taraneki Falls. It was a bit cold since we're up in higher elevation, but it was beautiful! I learned from Reece that when a volcano erupts, it always lets off a certain amount of water, forming mini channels. These channels then fill anytime it rains or snow melts down the volcano, turning into little streams. 

Taraneki Falls itself was also beautiful, and if it was warmer than we could've walked down, around, and behind the water. I really enjoyed the hike!

As soon as we got back to the Skotel we had some coffee and the sun began peeking through the clouds, which was also great to see. Then another group of us hiked 3 hours to see Silica Rapids. This hike was a bit more eventful as it started snowing when we got higher in elevation! Some of the Aussies who hardly ever see snow were ecstatic at the flurries and began to sing Christmas songs, which made me laugh and was fun for everyone.

We passed some orange red rapids on the hike up, which it turns out is caused by the iron found in volcanic lava!

I'll probably just relax in the lodge for the rest of the day! Tomorrow we head to Wellington, NZ's capitol city!