Jan 13th

Very difficult morning as we climbed up to 850m [same height as Pachna] to Tongariro National Park with one particularly steep and long hill, by far the hardest hill we have ever climbed. Drizzly weather but the rain held off. Beautiful scenery, Bush country with lots of deer, towering volcanic hills still covered in snow even though it is the height of summer. Stopped for lunch in National Park Village where we met the manager, Lynda from Ireland who gave us all our food and drink as a donation to the Baraka Home which was very welcome as we were exhausted. However the next 20 miles was virtually downhill all the way. Finally arrived at Ranfurly Cottage in Raetihi where we met our wonderful hosts Ron and Allison, who welcomed us with a beer; Allison was originally from Chesham, Bucks and her parents emigrated to OZ when she was 8 under the Assisted Passage scheme; she subsequently met Ron on a trip to Nz and the rest is history! Raetihi very much a one horse town as like so many rural communities is suffering from people migrating to the cities for work. This accomodation by far the best with our own suite.