We headed north on the road to Tongariro National Park, with its trio of starkly impressive peaks, one of which was a fairly obvious choice for Mount Doom in the Lord of the Rings. On the lunch stop near to the turn-off the the park the daily Overlander scenic train stopped obligingly beside us for photos before moving on northwards. The passage of its southbound stablemate led us to wonder where they had crossed, and whether the northbound one was still there, and could be overtaken and viewed at the Raurima Spiral, a circular feat of railway engineering a few miles further on. As it happened we found the viewing point but not the train, or at least not until we had left the viewing point and gone to look at the station. At least we knew the timings, for a possibly better co-ordinated attempt the next day.

After booking in at the Whakapapa camp site in the middle of the park, and visiting an informative information centre, we decided to do what everyone else apparently does, and go for a short walk, or tramp as it is called locally. We choose the Ridge Walk, which offered some fine views of the mountains and of the Chateau Hotel, complete with 9-hole golf course. After a meal at the Chateau's cafe, the restaurant being a little above our station, we drove a mile or two up the road towards the ski lifts to catch the sunset, and watch a few others racing up the hill behind us to probably not quite catch it. On the way a little red light on th dashboard started to glow ominously – low fuel. We coasted back to the camp site, wondering if we had actually noticed a filling station at National Park village, 15km distant.

Next morning, after a chilly, starlit night, our van problems multiplied, with a flat battery to add to the fuel situation. We tried gingerly to bump-start it down a narrow track between sleepy residents just starting to stir and stumble towards the toilet block. The van declined to co-operate, so the camp office was visited to see if they might have such a thing as a pair of jump leads, preferably with a spare vehicle to attach them to. They produced an item as good if not better, namely a combined portable starting unit and tyre compressor. After a few minutes spent wondering which part of the engine consisted of the battery, we discovered a faded diagram that suggested two points which might accept crocodile clips. One was clearly an earth, and the other was not only surrounded in red plastic, indicating it was live, but also otherwise completely exposed. By elimination nothing else suggested itself, so we made the connections, pressed the switch, and we had ignition. The need to charge the battery made it sensible to delay our morning walk in favour of a trip to National Park to fill up and also check the tyres. This was done without further mishap, although a certain amount of ungainly manouvring was needed to line up first with the diesel pump and secondly with the air line.

Eventually all was done and we returned to Whakapapa car park to set out on a two-hour trek to Taranaki Falls. this was a pleasant walk through a mixture of open tussock grass and wooded gullies, the latter providing welcome relief from the heat of the day. The falls themselves were of medium intensity, but clearly showing the the potential for increased activity in the rainy season.