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Published: August 17th 2006
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Instead of jumping back on the Stray bus I took a
detour with Jen through the
National Park and
Forgotten Highway to New Plymouth, on the west coast. She did the driving I choose the music (and slept). The forgotten highway gives you a pretty good feel for what
NZ is all about. From the Mountains of the National Park you pass into sheep filled rolling hills onto unsealed roads and tropical vegetation before hitting the coastal town of
New Plymouth.
Nice town as far as we could see, nothing actually was happening while we where there pubs, restaurants, shops mostly deserted. The
wind wand on the beach path was impressive, and so may I say where my pictures of sunset. The reason for stopping was
Mount Taranaki, we had mountain climbing
fever!! Mt Taranki like Mt Ngauruhoe is also been in the movies, it started as Mt Fuji in 'The Last Samurai' - its the spitting image of Fuji.
Rations bought from
Pak N Save ham, cheese, rolls, apples and mars bars. It was a good hours drive from New Plymouth to the tourist information centre on Taranki. We couldn't have got a better day sunshine and clear
skies. We set off just after 9am from the info centre at 965m, the summit is just over 2500m -
1600m of climbing to go!! The first hour was a gravel path steep but not too bad only stopping to wish
Holly & Joe congratulations on getting engaged! The view was panoramic and as far as the eye could see, unlike Mt Doom Taranaki is the only mountain in the area. A bit like someone accidentally left it there, imagine a 2500m
mountain in East Anglia! It was green fields to the right and ocean to the left.
The next section was what seemed an
endless staircase which took us out of the sunshine into the clouds. The morning's clouds seems to have got stuck, the further we climbed the thicker it got. The steps eventually ended and we where now climbing on loose stone following
wooden markers laid out here and there. Stopping for lunch at around 2000m couldn't see the summit or the base or pretty much anything else! we had a few conversations about maybe being a bit
out of our depth but pushed on eventually meeting a few people on the way down, apparently an
hour to the top. Started getting glimpses of the summit through the cloud, not far. But then its
deceiving, an hour later we still weren't any closer and the terrain was much more difficult than the Mt Doom. We where now climbing over rocks and started seeing the first signs of
snow. The markers finished it was then guess work as to which was the best route. The last section was climbing up a rock face and at last we got a great view of the crater, its huge! The clouds are moving quickly and get the occasional you see the fields below. I can tell you
standing on top of the mountain and looking 2500m down to the ground below is quite something. I'm not scared of heights but did get the occasional twinge of vertigo, not sure I entirely liked it. We enjoyed the view took a
few snaps then headed back down. At times just as precarious as the route up, you always look forward to the way down thinking its gonna be easy but it ends up being just as much work. Descended back through the clouds and finally made it to the info centre for
6pm, that's a
9 hour round trip and 3200m! A very tiring but satisfying days climbing.
The next day we took it easy and chilled out at the hostel, watching yet more Lord Of The Rings. The following day was time to leave New Plymouth and head to
Wellington, the final stop of the North Island. Jen did the driving I did the music and sleeping again. It was quite a shock arriving in downtown Wellington a big city! bars!
nightlife! We took advantage of all of this and stayed at the very nice YHA where we got interviewed for a Living Channel program called 5 Takes, while cooking.
Jen and I said our goodbye's she was heading to Hamner Spring and I was off to stay with the
Broadmores! My London flat mate Mark is a Wellingtonian and kindly offered that I stay with his family while in town. The
Broadmore's Tom, Juliet and William live in a very nice house on Mt Victoria overlooking Wellington Harbour. It was the fist time I had eaten
home cooking and slept in a comfortable in about 5 months and was a treat! They also gave me lots of advice
on what to do and I'm very grateful.
Wellington is famous for good
strong coffee and took every opportunities to drink it in the funky cafes around town. Its also home to the
Embassy Theatre where LOTR had its premier and is easily the most comfortable cinema I've ever seen, large leather chairs, loads of room and a name tag on each seat telling you which person sat their for the premier!
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