Blogs from Egmont National Park, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania
Mt. Taranaki National Park and Waitomo Caves
Published: April 27th 2012Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Egmont National Park
April 21st 2012
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
Climbing MT Taranaki
Published: January 25th 2012Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Egmont National Park
January 25th 2012
Sir Edmund Hilary trained on Mt Taranaki before climbing Everest. After Tongariro and a horrible nights sleep in Gerwin's car we decided to climb this mountain. Not sure how far from the summit we were, but when the wind started blowing us nearly off our feet and the rocks began to roll we decided to turn back. Drove to Wellington that day.... read more
Days 3 & 4 - Hard graft!
Published: September 14th 2009Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Egmont National Park
September 14th 2009
Day 3 - Otorohanga to Urenui 160km After 2 relatively easy days to start the cycle, day 3 would prove to be a lot different. We were to cycle just over 160km, including 3 steady climbs to over 200m with many smaller hills in between. To sum it up, it was an absolute killer on the legs, and by this time our bums had also started to get a little tender. We left Otorohanga at half 7 in the morning, and whilst we were lucky enough that there was still little wind it rained for the first few hours. Following a short stop for breakfast number 2, our bike repair skills were called into action for the first time when my back tyre suffered a puncture. This put us behind schedule by about half an ... read more
A $200 worth picture / Una foto de 200 dolares
Published: June 16th 2009Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Egmont National Park
June 3rd 2009
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
April 25th 2009
Hello! So here are the pics of the day we went "tramping" up to the ski hill on Mt. Egmont! Enjoy! This weekend has been nice....it was Anzac day yesterday so most shops were closed for the morning in remembrance of New Zealand's war heroes. We ended up doing some shopping in the afternoon cause then all the shops open and have big sales in the afternoon! I got 230 pics developed so I can start my photo album of my year here. I had been meaning to keep up with it but hadn't even gotten around to printing a single picture yet haha! And then we went out to dinner at Burger Fuel with Nick and Abby and Greg and Jess. Burger Fuel by the way is the best burger place I have ever been ... read more
Surf Highway - Nouvelle Zélande
Published: January 30th 2009Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Egmont National Park
January 25th 2009
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
Goodbye North Island!
Published: November 1st 2008Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Egmont National Park
November 1st 2008
Well since our last entry we have spent our last couple of weeks in Wellington, and had a tour of the west coast and met up with Wim, Agatha and Jan (Ian’s parents and uncle) Back to our last couple of weeks in Wellington, we had two more weekends here after our last blog entry. The first one we decided to take it easy, tidy the van and have a good night out in Wellington! We found ourselves a good Chinese and a piano bar in an Irish pub. The piano player was excellent, and did some great guns and roses and queen renditions, and played on till the early hours! The next weekend we had a busy one, but the sun was shining! On the Saturday we headed to an island in Wellington Harbour called ... read more
Head in the clouds
Published: May 9th 2008Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Egmont National Park
May 1st 2008
On Wednesday, we left Raglan (in bright sunshine) and drove south to Taumarunui, stopping briefly for coffee in Pirongia. We picked up some pies for lunch (yes, there are still pies here in NZ, Tim hasn't eaten them ALL yet!) and then embarked on the 150km drive to Stratford on Highway 43 - the evocatively named Forgotten World Highway. At the start of this road there are signs warning that there is no gasoline for the full 150km. The road gets it's name due to fact that it passes through many historically significant sites, some abandoned settlements, coal mines and Maori pa (fortified villages). 12km of the road is unsealed and passes through a gorge on extremely narrow tracks. We stopped to admire the views from "Nevin's lookout" (sadly, as is the case for the most ... read more
February 25th 2008
Day 8 2/22 Friday Hawera Visited Lloyd and Anita Burke at their farm. Leaned a lot about dairy farming in NZ. It is very different than the US. The cows stay outside all the time and are rotated through different pastures. We went to a race that Burke's daughter was doing with here friend Toni. There is also some pictures of the grandchildren. Right outside our bedroom was Mt. Tarnaki. We stopped at a possum tannery. Juanita bought a beautiful Merino wool wrap. Lloyd bought Anita a possum skin purse. Possums are a real pest in NZ and the tannery are making good use of them. ... read more
Day 9-11 (2/23-2/25)
Published: February 25th 2008Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Egmont National Park
February 25th 2008
I am having some trouble with the inter-net connection so I will just load a bunch of pictures from these 3 days. Day 9 2/23 Saturday Hawera Went to the beach and a group of truck drivers were having a wedding. They had a beautiful ’57 Ford. Day 10 2/24 Sunday Hewera Took Lloyd and Anita out to supper and then went to a Friendship Force meeting. They also had a group Aussies at the meeting. Day 11 2/25 Monday Tongariro National Park Drive down to Wanganau on the coast and then north to Tongario National Park. We stopped at a stunning beautiful beach (Petea). There was only one guy and his dog there. ... read more
