Noted: Weekend Review - Tongariro National Park

yellow field - out the car window

Saturday was a " fun marathon" that ended like this

- Beautiful hour and half drive to a small town near Lake Taupo.

- Picnic on the banks of the Tongariro River... which happened to be the midpoint for this adventure race. Picnic basket doubled as a highchair/pack-and-play/great way to keep Jonah from eating sand.

- Quick walk down the river for some fishing and relaxing at Red Hut Pool.

- Informative trip to the Tongariro National Park Visitor Centre

- Up Mount Ruapehu to the Whakapapa Ski Area (closed for the season)

picnic and river race

- Dinner at Toi in Turangi... miracle of miracles - we had the entire place to ourselves for our whole meal... and they had a huge basket of toys. If you are a parent then you know why this was SUCH GREAT NEWS.

- Back to the river (blue pool) for one last shot at the BIG FISH - maybe next time.

One of our unspoken family goals for our time in New Zealand, is to see as much of the country as possible on a moderate budget. The {weekend review} highlights some of "efforts" towards that goal.