Ohakune Old Coach Road, part of the Mountains to Sea Great Ride Trail. Photo / Visit Ruapehu
From famous hikes to exploring a dinosaur museum in an old council building, Ruapehu is full of surprises, writes Simon Kay
Mountains and rivers, hiking and biking, arts and crafts, gondolas and tanks, vegetables and dinosaurs - these are among the many and varied attractions of the Ruapehu district.
The district covers the area west of the central North Island volcanoes, with Taumarunui in the north, Waimarino (formerly National Park) in the middle and Ohakune and Waiouru in the south.
Where better to start than the mountain - the North Island’s highest at 2797m - from which the district takes its name?
Whakapapa is preparing for a full ski season after years hindered by Covid and the subsequent financial issues of the previous operators. A load of snow is required - and there are dozens of machines to help produce the 2.5m base required on Ruapehu. Other ski fields need just 30-60cm.
Before the snow arrives, there are plenty of attractions, most notably the Sky Waka gondola, which replaced a double chair lift in 2019. The 48 10-seater Sky Waka cabins make a 1.8km journey, ascending 390m to Knoll Ridge Chalet, which offers the highest of high teas at 2020m - an altitude no other New Zealand restaurant can match.
This is also the starting point for five trails that take hikers higher up the mountain. There are many other spectacular walks of varying lengths back down the road, particularly around Whakapapa village.
New Zealand has many incredible hikes but one you shouldn’t pass by is the Tongariro Alpine Crossing; one of the most popular one-day hikes in the world.
A free booking system has been in place since 2023 with a daily average visitor number between 600 and 700. The 20km crossing takes most people six to eight hours. There are regular shuttle services from Waimarino and Ohakune that drop off trampers at the Mangatepopo end in the morning and collect them from Ketetahi in the afternoon.
Around 70% of those doing the crossing are from overseas. Daniel Schlumpf says his tranquil River Lodge between Ohakune and Raetihi is better known in Europe than New Zealand. Ruapehu can be an overlooked corner of the country for some but the district has plenty to offer.
The Northern Circuit provides the full Tongariro National Park experience. The 45km circuit incorporates the crossing and is usually done over three days. Hut bookings are essential and next open on May 22 - it pays to be quick.
For cyclists, the region’s star attraction is the Mountains to Sea Ngā Ara Tūhono Cycle Trail, from Ohakune to the coast via a lengthy stretch down the Whanganui River. The start is being pushed up to Tūroa and I walked a section of the recently completed Te Ara Mangawhero track just north of Ohakune.
Confession time: I’m not big on my art, but after meeting several of the two dozen artists who feature on the Adventure Highway Art Trail, it’s hard not to be impressed by these individuals and their creations.
Some galleries showcase these artists’ work, including Twin Rivers on Taumarunui’s main street and Volcano Vibe, housed in one of the few wooden buildings to survive the fatal fire that destroyed most of Raetihi in 1918.
You can also visit the artists at their home studios, where their artwork often merges with everyday life. At Twin Rivers, I met English-born James Cannon, a talented carver who has recently branched into metal sculptures.
Mark Tyrrell took me to his home studio on Sunshine Rd, part of a mini art hub on a hill above Taumarunui. Across the road lives Tony Hall, an artist and maintenance engineer at the Chateau. Next door is Sarath Surendran aka Freddie Leela, a nurse at Taumarunui Hospital who paints every day.
The next day, I visited Merrilyn George at her Ohakune home. A long-time teacher at Ruapehu College, she is a fibre artist who employs a wide variety of techniques and delights in using her art to tell local stories and recount history. In that typical Kiwi way, it turns out Merrilyn knows my aunt Yvonne Roberts, who was awarded a QSM for services to quilting and patchwork craft in 2021.
A born-and-bred local, Merrilyn was a rarity among the people I met. Most had moved to Ruapehu from elsewhere, many from Auckland. Lifestyle is a primary driver but housing affordability is also a factor. June Nevin, a former fashion shoe designer who owns the Inn at the Convent B&B in Taumarunui and is also a real estate agent, says you can buy a good home in the region for less than $500,000.
The Army Museum is the national institution Waiouru is best known for, complete with tanks parked out front. Anyone keen on their military history like me could easily spend a day here.
There are displays on every theatre of war in which New Zealand soldiers have served. One item that stood out was Te Rau Aroha, a canteen truck that followed the 28th Māori Battalion through North Africa and Italy. The truck still has patched shrapnel gashes suffered during a Stuka dive bomber attack at El Alamein.
But the main attraction for me was the repository that is home to more than 10,000 medals. Pride of place goes to the dozen Victoria Crosses, most notably the one with a bar awarded to Charles Upham. There have been 1355 Victoria Cross recipients (including 21 from New Zealand’s armed forces) in the 169-year history of the medal but Upham is the only combatant to earn it twice.
Carrotland is a gem of a park literally started after Dave Scott had a dream about how the land behind Ohakune’s 7.5m carrot could be put to good use. The giant carrot is over 40 years old and was voted New Zealand’s Landmark of the Year in 2023.
Driven by Scott, Peggy Frew and Elaine Mott, the Ohakune Carrot Adventure Park Trust has developed a five-hectare area filled with fun activities for the family which includes a playground, flying fox, obstacle course, gym equipment, bike and walking tracks.
Their next project is a pirate ship, which was originally a lifeboat from the Mikhail Lermontov, the Soviet cruise liner that sank in the Marlborough Sounds in 1986. The lifeboat somehow ended up at a local property and is now being repurposed into Carrotland’s next attraction.
This is a park created by the community for the community (and visitors). That’s illustrated by table Ken Summerhays designed for the barbecue area; one made of a slab of andesite rock no one could steal
The park’s attractions are all free, although donations are gratefully accepted - the trust is still $40,000 off a target of $150,000 for the pirate ship.
New Zealand can throw up some quirky attractions in unexpected locations and the Dinosaur House Museum in Raetihi is a classic example.
Sick of his 90-minute commute in Auckland and drawn to the region after working as an extra on The Hobbit, Ian Moore and his wife Sarah moved into the old Waimarino County Council premises and turned most of it over to his extensive dinosaur collection.
Ian’s fascination with the extinct beasts started as a 5-year-old and his museum is home to life-sized animatronic dinosaurs, fossils and interactive exhibits. There are even retro video arcade games featuring assorted monsters and a costume Sam Neill wore in Jurassic Park.
My trip finished with an early-morning visit to Chrissi Ryburn’s Tatahi/The Beach food cart just off the side of State Highway 4 at Waimarino. I gazed across to Ruapehu while enjoying an outstanding bacon buttie breakfast and a coffee. Chrissi insists she doesn’t take her spectacular view for granted and I believe her.
For more information on Ruapehu and what to do, visit visitruapehu.com.
What events are on Waikato?