The weather when we headed north from Whakapapa really closed in, and was probably the worst weather since arriving in Queenstown.
We went out to the Marokopa Falls - This was a 10-15 minute walk from the car park, to view a 35m high falls. As it was raining - the waterfalls were in full flow.
Then it was a stop at Mangapohue Natural Bridge - This was originally a part of the roof of a cave. The cave collapsed - thousands of years ago, leaving part of the roof in place, the natural bridge. It was a short walk from the car park into the ravine, with good walkways. Many features which would normally be seen in caves were visible in the daylight.
By the time we got to Hamilton the weather had really closed in. We jointly took the decision to miss out, Hamilton Gardens, which was the only reason we were staying in Hamilton - oh well.
We were flying out the next day. We had a window of about 90 minutes available before we needed to be at the airport. So we decided to go on a detour to Auckland Botanic Gardens. This had a lot of floral displays which were similar to the UK and others which were very specific to New Zealand.
There were also a lot of statues in the park which fitted in really well.
And then on 13 December 3 weeks after we arrived it was time for the long flight home.
