A beautiful setting can be the icing on the cake of a good high tea, we found this to be true at Chateau Tongariro. It’s been a while between high teas, however it’s winter down under and driving from Palmerston North to Rotorua provided the chance to break our journey in the Tongariro National Park.

Chateau Tongariro is a grand old lady, she’s just celebrated her 85th birthday and original picture windows provide a view of Mount Ngaruhoe (Mt Doom to Lord of the Rings fans). It was Mt Doom and gloom on Monday, clouds obscured the view so we … Read the rest