Wonderful Whakapapa

A visit to a historic tourist chateau before it closed, and the Sky Waka cable car to the highest restaurant in Aotearoa New Zealand, with views to match

First published 28 January, 2022, on a-maverick.com. Updated on 14 April 2023.

THE Whakapapa area of Mount Ruapehu lies on the mountain’s north-western flank. You can go from lowland forest with scenic waterfalls such as Tawhai Falls (the site of Gollum’s Pool in the LOTR movies) past the Chateau Tongariro and the…