In case you missed our last article, we briefly mentioned how much we were impressed with Piopio campsite... you know, the free one with all the facilities you could ever need including a sheltered kitchen.. yes, that one. Well, it was time for us to leave and move into somewhere more permanent before starting our new jobs at the Chateau, but we wanted to make the most of having a kitchen and discovered one of the best ways to start the day - pancakes.
It’s not very often you see campers with their frying pans out flipping pancakes for breakfast. In fact, we’ve never seen anyone else do it which is strange because they are super easy to make (even on a portable gas cooker) and let’s be honest, awesome. How had we been camping for so long and not yet made pancakes for breakfast?.. and why had we not seen anyone else doing it? Anyway, we fried-up and tried to refrain from looking smug, knowing full well what everyone else was probably thinking...
We had a busy day ahead; knowing that we’d be stuck working for the next few weeks we tried to cram as much as we could into the day - there were a lot of things to do between us and our final stop despite it only being a couple of hours away and we’d be reaching our first stop, Omaru Falls after around half an hour. The falls are easy to get to, being sign-posted clearly from SH4. The last 700 metres or so are down a gravel road but it’s nothing that even our little Odyssey couldn’t handle.
After parking we had to hop over a stile and cross some farmland to get to the track, which isn’t very interesting and also, it was raining but this didn’t bother us... because what makes waterfalls better? more water. We walked in the rain for about half an hour, mostly through a rainforest which looked good in the wet conditions, as do probably all rainforests to be fair. The highlight of this track is definitely the swing bridge that crosses over the muddy brown stream we had been following from the start. We stopped to take some photos - it’s somewhat of a tradition for us to take photo’s of nice looking bridges and this one was really nice, so we couldn’t resist.
When the forest opens up near the end of the track you can hear that you’re getting closer to the falls. The stream on the now right-hand-side picks up some speed and creates a yellow foamy substance as it bounces around over the rocks on the river bed. It forms together to make spongy looking clusters, which are the result of the algae content in the water trapping bubbles of air as the water is churned by the rocks. They look really strange and it’s rare you’ll see them by a river, but putting science aside, they’re fun to poke with a stick if you’re easily entertained, like Liam is.
We continued walking the track, and in the farmland to the left we spotted several sheep watching us as we did so. We were getting quite close now, although it was difficult to tell. Eventually the stream became hidden by bushes and the path took us round to the left. Turns out we had reached the cliff edge, and it was at this point where the path led us up to a platform across from the falls.
From here you get what can only be described as a perfect view of the entire scene. The falls, although not the biggest or the most dramatic, were exactly what we were hoping to see. Covered in greenery and looking like a vivid painting, somehow the muddy brown water from the stream became white and glistened as it poured into the pool below. It would have been really nice to get closer but there is no access...if there had to be one, this is probably the only downside to the falls.
On the way back we stopped at the swing bridge again, it’s reasons like this why we never have any storage/memory left... but like we said, it’s a habit, even if we prefer to call it ‘tradition’. We were still on good time as we got in the car and began our next leg of the journey. As we got further south, the weather picked up and by the time we got to Taumarunui we had stripped down all our layers*.
*no, obviously not ALL of our layers, that would be ridiculous, and illegal.
In Taumarunui we made a quick stop to try and get some reasonably priced new tyres fitted at the garage. It was a notably brief stop; apparently the people of this town are millionaire’s, so with the same four tyres we started with, we continued towards Whakapapa. Around 5 minutes up the road from Whakapapa is a place that may be familiar to some of us. It’s official name is Tawhai Falls, but it is commonly referred to as ‘Gollum’s Pool’. It’s one of the many LOTR filming locations in the area, and situated right at the entrance to Tongariro National Park, which also goes by the name of Mordor.
In the scene where Faramir takes Frodo to the Forbidden Pool, Gollum is found to be squatting on a rock in the water, holding a fish and singing to himself as he hunts for more food. He is nearly killed as punishment but is saved by Frodo. This scene was made from a composition of shots, taken from both Tawhai Falls and Mangawhero falls, which are located on the other side of the park. The producers liked aspects of both locations and rather than choose between them, blended the two shots together to create what’s known to us as the Forbidden Pools. Due to the camera trickery, it’s not blaringly obvious that this is one of the filming locations, and we’ll admit that some creativeness must be used to vision the whole scene, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that it’s still a nice place to check out.
“Rock and pool is nice and cool, so juicy sweet! I only wish to catch a fish, so juicy sweet!” - Gollum
The falls are easy to access; there are some parking spaces on either side of the road and the walk to the location takes around 5 minutes. This is another place with a dedicated viewing platform, although unlike Omaru Falls, you can actually get in the pool and hunt for fish yourself, if that’s your thing. While we were there too, we saw a brave man jump off the edge of the falls into the pool below, and although we didn’t actually see him hit the water, the lack of screams from the people below indicates that this it’s probably safe to do the same if you don’t mind bearing the cold. (just maybe test the water first)
To summarise, we think we were pretty lucky with that day and we made a good choice with the places. Omaru falls after quite a bit of rain are incredible, exactly how you’d imagine a waterfall. And the pools... they were a great introduction to the area of Mordor, where we’ll be spending a month or two working and occasionally getting chance to explore what’s around. Can’t wait!
Up next: Our last day of freedom - Taranaki Falls
More photos in our GALLERY
