Taranaki to Rotorua

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22/10/06 Sunday Pukeiti Rhododendron Garden to Mt Taranaki

Left the garden traveling south around Mt Taranaki. The countryside around the mountain is emerald green undulating farmland (Similar to the country around Pullman, WA in late spring).

The snow capped volcanic peaks of Mt Taranaki on a clear day must stand out in start contrast to the countryside. An otherearthly creation of black rock and claw mark like scars accented with snow.

The rain persisted but I was more persistent. I hiked out to a waterfall and river gorge and back. I came back to the car soaked through and through. Changed out of my clothes into something dry and much warmer. I decided that hiking anymore was out of the question. Rather than try to fight the rain I run out ahead of it and take a survey of as much country as possible with my remaining time. I set out in a direction towards Lake Taupo and Rotorua. My goal was to reach Rotorua by 10pm. So I was off on the …….

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Photos

The foot paths are floodedby rain water.
I know I'm good but walking on water is asking a bit much. I gave up the fight and decided to splash through the puddles without a care in the world. Jeans were soaked up past my knees when I got back to the car.

The mountain shows itself.
The mountain was shrouded by a layer of thick clouds during my visit. The sky played cruel jokes with me while I waited for a clear shot. Every few minutes it would look like the clouds would burn off but at the moment I thought they were about to dissipate a new bank would roll in and dump buckets of rain on me as payback for my patience.

Comments

[dad]

beautiful PICs
You sure have been to alot of beautiful places. Thank you for sharing with us all this beauty. The Mt. Taranaki brought back memories of Mt. Rainier with Ogo from Mexico. Times long since past but for sure not forgotten. Thanks again for sharing.

[Jeanette]

Dr Suess Trees
What kind of trees were those growing along the fence? They looked like stripped umbrellas. The area looks similar to the rain forest in the Olympic National Forrest...remember when we lived there?

[Tom]

Taranaki Tours
Kia Ora, great to read your blog- sorry about the rain -FYI the trees are called ponga and are amongst some of the oldest plants in the world and the snow is sitting on Fanthams Peak which is off the side of Mt Taranaki. Glad you saw Dawsons Falls with lots of water- quite a spiritual feeling down beneath the falls