Wellington, Taranaki and Lots of Rain

Unfortunately, the first thing we experienced on North Island was the never-ending wind, that changed calm cruise through Malborough Sounds into a bumpy ride on the sea, and rain, of course, that almost did not stop until we have left Wellington. But it wasn't that bad. The weather let us to experience NZ national museum Te Papa in more detail and we both fell in love with it. In the end we spent almost two days in there and still did not manage to see it all. So Luky decided that we will later on fly from Aukland to finish the whole museum:-). Apart from Te Papa we visited The Parliament and enjoyed the tour around Beehive, main building and the library very much. It was not as extraordinary as the London's parliament but I was the chosen one to be allowed to sit on one the chairs in The Chamber:-). 

What we could not miss in Wellington was so called 'Wellywood'. Luky was sneaking around Peter Jackson's post-production buildings and Weta Warehouses, but we could also “legally” visit Weta Cave - small museum and collectors shop. A short documentary that was screened inside just round up the whole experience. 

After necessary supply shopping we left Wellington on the fourth day. During our stay we were parking our van in the carpark near Oriental Bay as it seemed to be an officially tolerated freedom camping site. On the last day, as Lukas was taking a cold shower, one of the guy who was parking there regularly (seemed to us that he lived there) told us that near by is marina that has free hot showers. So I finished our stay in Windy Welly with so refreshing hot shower.

In the end we were quite happy to leave Wellington behind and head to wilderness again. Our first stop was Kaitoke Park, famous recreation area with public BBQ, so sought by us:-). It was still raining but there was a roof over so we could enjoy our first BBQ in two months. On the way to Whanganui or Wanganui (depends if you wanna use Maori or English spelling) we made various stops such as Otaki Beach or Tararua Wind Farm (apparently the largest one in Southern Hemisphere).

Western part of North Island is a land of tiny volcanic hills, but also of famous scenic roads. The first one was Whanganui River Road. We were hoping to descend the river, but because it is almost winter here we had to satisfy ourselves with views from the road. Along we could also see various marae (carved maori meeting places) but also remains of early European settlements such as a beautiful church in Jerusalem village (great combination of Maori and European culture) or Kawana Flour Mill.

From Wanganui we took another scenic route, this time SH45 Surf Highway. On the nice sunny day you would see Mt Taranaki on the left side and great surfing beaches on the right along the whole road. But with the almost constant rain there was a lot of clouds on the left and during the few stops that we made on the beaches, we were blown away by the strong wind and there were no signs of surfers' manly bodies, not even in the surfing heaven, the famous Stent Road:-).

In the end the weather turn to better right on time. The next day we arrived still with rain to North Egmont Visitors Centre but from behind the clouds we could see a first glimpse of Mt Taranaki. An amazing volcanic cone that was still around us for the next three days. As a centre of small flat peninsula the mountain is a centre of everything and can be seen from miles away. As always, the constant rain in lowlands meant snowfall in the mountain areas which meant that our plans had to be changed again. We have decided to walk two days Pouakai Circuit that proved to be a great Taranaki trip. The start of the track was through a bush. This included crossing a number of smaller or larger creeks. Fortunately, it was the traditional river crossings such as jumping across the stones and walking trunks. I was so happy to be hiking again that I jumped into one of them with my both feet...unintentionally, of course:-). 

The next part was like climbing a lookout tower where somebody forgot to close a water tap on the top. There were about 1600 steps along the track and many of them were fully or partially covered in water. 

On the top of Henry Peak the views of Mt Taranaki were amazing and just a “few” steps below were a small lake. The lake was a bit of track but we were curious and walked around it and on the other side we realised that this is the place, where the front picture of our Lonely Planet guide was taken. With the sun behind, we stayed and took yet more pictures of the beautifully rounded volcano. Not far from the lake we have finally reached Pouakai Hut. There were already a few people that arrived from New Plymouth just for one night. It was just a couple of hours walk to get to wilderness like this for locals. Later even a group of local teenagers arrive. Even though the calm of the night was disturbed by obscene and drunken behaviour of young kiwis, we did not mind as after a long time we had a network with internet connection in the backcountry hut. This is something extraordinary in New Zealand as many small towns even doesn't get a network. 

So after much needed catch up with our friends and family on the other side of the world we were ready for the long trip back to the car that was ahead of us. First we had to cross the famous Ahukawakawa swamp that was created when the lava extrusion blocked the river. That created a unique habitat – a home to many endemic plants. The crossing was of course made on boardwalk which wasn't surprising any more, especially the fact that most of it was covered by water:-). 

After a short visit to Holy Hut we were slowly approaching slopes of Mt Taranaki. As we climbed to the highest point of our track we could see slides that nicely revealed the differences in soil caused by volcanic activity. As we reached the north face of the mountain the track started to be covered in snow. Fortunately we had already a second day of great sunny weather which allowed us safely cross the variety of landslides and enjoy the crossing under an old lava cliffs. After reaching our highest point of 1310m we began to descend to North Egmont with a short stop for a cache. Unfortunately our car was parked about two kilometres along the road and as I wanted to enjoy the forest as much as possible I have persuaded Lukas to take a track that lead to the carpark through the forest. It was late and we were both tired and the track went on and on...we were so exhausted that once we reached the car we just sat there...for that we did not know that it will take us more than two more hours to find a suitable place to park the van for the night,,,, 

As always you can see more pictures HERE