Blogs from Egmont National Park, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania

Wonderful drive from Waitamo to New Plymouth. Interesting countryside with volcanic landscape. Full of sheep and cows. Finally reached the west coast and the steely black sand was something I hadn't expected. By chance we arrived at The State Hotel a clean, simple, well designed hotel in the Main Street, New Plymouth. Really pleased after the disappointment of last night. Set off straightaway to Egmont National Park where we embarked on one of the simpler walks across Mt Taranaki. The top of the volcano was shrouded in cloud but the vegetation and birdsong along the walk were lovely. Great meal in Portifino Italian restaurant and then to bed!... read more

21st April ’12 Mt. Taranaki National Park, New Plymouth & on to the Waitomo Caves The drive up to the Mt. Taranaki National Park area was nothing special, long, green and flatish until we neared the NP. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t too great today and Mt. Taranaki was half covered in clouds but we still drove up to the view points and did a couple of walks. The first view point was up at the Dawson Falls view point, which was reached by going up a long single lane road through very close forest. It was most eerie as a lot of the way we were the only car on the road but it twisted and turned so rapidly you had no idea if anything was coming in the other direction until you rounded each bend. ... read more

(Day 652 on the road) I guess I can't be lucky with the weather all the times on my hikes here in New Zealand. During the last one, a four-day circuit around the cone-shaped volcano of Mt. Taranaki near New Plymouth, it was pretty much raining and storming non-stop. New Plymouth by the way is the self-proclaimed "most livable city in New Zealand", whatever that means. The town didn't seem all that appealing to me, and a quick check on the world's most livable citiessomehow doesn't quite include New Plymouth (but places like Vienna, Vancouver or Zurich. Funny that. I set off in a drizzle, and when during the late afternoon the clouds cleared I was somewhat hopeful that the dire weather report I had seen earlier was wrong as usual. But despite a few spells ... read more

English version Ok, so it finally happened. I knew it had to at some point, had been expecting it, but still came as a bit of a shock. It’s winter and I’m having to wear more than one layer!!!!!! Noooooooo!!! Still, considering that what we’ve had to suffer over the last couple of months is still better than the average British summer, I’m not complaining!!! Particularly after reading the news last week: "Two months of rain in half a day", "Snow in June!" And this is after suffering the coldest winter of the last 12 years (yes, I know this also happened in many other countries) … looks like I had a lucky scape after all! I guess I never managed to adjust to the colder weather, after all I wasn’t made to survive in a ... read more

Surf Highway (littéralement l'autoroute du surf) contourne le parc national Egmont. Quand il n'y a pas trop de nuages, on aperçoit le Mont Egmont (ou Mont Taranaki) sous différents angles en le contournant, mais le meilleur point de vue c'est probablement depuis le Sud. Le cône du volcan Taranaki culmine à 2518m est l'un des trois volcan qui se situent sur la même fissure. La région est réputée pour la production laitière et pétrolière. Les prairies ne sont pas broutées par des moutons mais par des vaches et l'on croise fréquemment des camions-remorques qui collectent le lait. Sur la route sinueuse il faut aussi prêter attention aux véhicules agricoles et être prêts à éviter un pick-up à tout moment. Une raffinerie de pétrole borde la route et lorsqu'on contemple les magnifiques couchés de soleil, on aperçoit ... read more