This year (2018) I set the goal for myself to learn how to snowboard in the winter, and learn how to surf in the summer. In the summer time of 2017/18 I had my second ever surfing lesson (my first being at age 15 ) while on Christmas holiday in and around Cape Town, South Africa. I wrote about the trip in a South Africa post you can find here.
Shortly after we arrived home, we brought season passes to Mt Ruapehu, to learn how to Snowboard over the winter months (july-oct in New Zealand). I must admit that I put off going to the mountain for my first lesson for about 6 weeks after the skifields opened-but eventually got up the courage to spend a day falling on to my butt and eating snow. I’ll perhaps write about that in a separate post. Anyway, on one of the days we headed up (the middle weekend of the school holiday) the carparks had all closed at 9am due to too many people on the mountain, so we decided to have a little adventure and then head home.
I had heard of Tawhai Falls (also known as Gollum’s pool) from a friend who had visited shortly before. Its located in Tongariro National Park, on the road heading towards Whakapapa Village (the village before you get to the skifield). Tawhai Falls is not too far from the more impressive Taranaki Falls, but a shorter walk and slightly better signposting. The signpost is on the left of the road (going towards the mountain) and if you get to the Chateau (pictured in pano with Mt Ngarahoe and Mt Ruapehu on either side below) you’ve gone to far.
Tawhai Falls is then a short-ten or so minute walk from the road. Theres a viewing platform at the top of the 13m falls, but you can also continue to follow the path and get to the bottom-although it does require a bit of scrambling over rocks to get the best little view.
This is a filming location from Lord of the Rings where Gollum is fishing, while Faramir and his archer’s are watching. There are also natural “stone trolls” as seen in The Hobbit-which are rock formations of trolls heads, an its completely unbelievable that they were created that way.
Anyway, the pictures speak for themselves, but I would highly recommend a little detour before or after a day up the mountain skiing/snowboarding to visit these falls. They’re not far off the beaten track, there’s very little ability needed fitness wise (there are a few very manageable steps) but the crisps mountain air and dense New Zealand forest makes you feel as if you’ve been transported to the middle of middle earth.
The pictures below are (in order) from the roadside facing Mt Ruapehu and then from the base of the falls.
Happy Exploring
xx MooChelle