Mt. Taranaki and the Surf Hwy

It was about time we said goodbye to the colder south island and got on the ferry towards Wellington. With that in mind, we spent a quick night in Picton and then early in the morning set out on the Cook strait journey for the last time. The trip was quite good and we got to see some small penguins in the Wellington harbor swimming around the boat, which was quite neat. In Wellington, we just quickly dropped by the "Cozy Cakeshop" one more time to get some good munchies and then headed out towards the Taranaki region. We spent one more night in a campground near a lake at Wanganui and the following day ended in New Plymouth where we hoped to stay a while before setting off again.

New Plymouth sits on a peninsula which is dominated by a Mt. Taranaki volcano. The volcano literally sticks out and can be seen for many miles around the peninsula. Obviously, we wanted to climb it :), so already the next morning we drove the bottom of the volcano which is about 20 min drive from New Plymouth. What surprised us was the sudden change in weather. New Plymouth was warm and sunny, but near the mountain it was misty and a lot cooler. Anyhow, we got our packs on, plenty of water and food and set out for 6-8 return journey up the volcano. Unfortunately, Jenni was not feeling too good the day before and it didn't get much better after a couple of kilometers of walking, so she decided to go back down and wait until I conquered the volcano for both of us. The going was quite easy at the beginning, but after about 2 hrs of walking, the terrain suddenly started to change, starting with 100s of steps and then fine lava rock where one step equals half a step sliding back and finishing with literally climbing up steep lava rock using both arms,legs and knees. The weather was changing as the climb progressed, first there was mist and rain, but once above the clouds, the sun was shining in all its glory. Neverthless after 4 hours of many cramps in my thighs (with 10 kg pack on my back) I was standing in the snowy crater and then a few minutes later reached the summit. From there, I could see the neverending cloud cover spreading for miles and miles, but at some points the fields and villages were visible. It was possible to even see Mt. Ruapehu which we visited during our Tongariro crossing trip. After a few kilos of drink and food, I started the treaterous descend which was quite difficult at the top, but fortunately took only 2 hours with no sprained ankles. The pain in knees and muscles the next two days was a very small price to pay for the feeling of conquering this towering giant of a volcano. :)

Obviously, the next day was a rest day, but the day after that I was booked for a short surfing lesson with one of the local clubs. The Taranaki region is renowned for their surf and the road that runs around the peninsula also carries the descriptive name of Surf Highway. Unfortunately, the weather was quite crap, rain and wind from weird directions. After a short instruction on dry land, we set off to conquer the waves on our 9 ft boards. Together with couple of german tourists we were the only ones in the surf for miles and miles. However, I still had fun and would gladly do it again. Too bad, I do not live near the ocean :). The water element is just amazing.