Last Hurrahs in New Plymouth

Our time in New Plymouth has flown by– today is Thursday, October 1, Day 41 of our New Zealand house sit. We pick up Dana and Allan, our homeowners, on Saturday. Amazing how fast the time has flown! Baz and Jess, the easy-care dogs, will be excited to see their owners.

As our time in New Plymouth is coming to an end and the weather has turned more spring-like, we have been actively exploring new areas and redoing hikes that we enjoyed the first time.

Last Saturday we redid a 10+ mile hike around New Plymouth. Partially, we wanted a good excuse to be out in the gorgeous weather enjoying part of New Plymouth’s coastal walkway, scenic Mount Paritutu and the Sugar Loaf Islands, Back Bay Beach, and a couple of scenic trails back into town and partially we just wanted a good excuse to grab another huge ice cream cone at Iona Dairy on St. Aubyn street!

Last Friday, we were finally able to make our first visit to THE mountain — Mt. Taranki (the fickle mountain that teases us with partial views on most days). Mount Taranaki is located in Egmont National Park in the center of the Taranaki region. There are a number of access points to the park. On Friday, we went to the North Egmont Visitor Center which is the visitor’s center closest to New Plymouth. Based on the still early Spring conditions, we opted to hike the Veronica Loop which allowed us to enjoy the almost-tropical vegetation while hiking through some mud and a good bit of unmelted snow. The trail provided great views of the mountain and of the countryside below.

We returned to the mountain on Tuesday, but this time started at the East Egmont Visitor Center which is a bit further south from New Plymouth — near the town of Stratford (of Shakespeare and Glockenspiel fame — see prior blog). We did 2 hikes here — the Wilkies Pool Loop which took us alongside and over (via boulder crossings) a river stream (water does not get any clearer than this!) and the Kapuni Loop Track which took us to the Dawson Falls waterfall and allowed us to walk through more of the always interesting trees and bushes.

All of the mountain hikes we did were short and pretty easy. We would love to be here a bit later in the year to summit the mountain and/or do one of the multi-day hikes that are available.

On another day, we enjoyed the cloud-covered mountain for a late lunch at the Stratford Mountain House Cafe after a hike around Lake Rotokare. Lake Rotokare is lovely — it’s a large scenic reserve enclosed by a predator-proof fence. The lake is fed entirely by natural springs. As per usual, we heard more birds than we saw, but we did note the many critter-catching boxes set up to ensure that no unwanted animals get into the reserve. On our drive up the mountain for lunch, the temp dropped from 13 celsius to 7 celsius. However, as we split an amazingly awesome antipasto platter at a table near the fireplace, we were warm, happy trampers!

Yesterday, we hiked the Cardiff Centennial Walkway before heading to the Hollard Gardens. Parking for the Cardiff Walk is right off of the Opunake Highway. There we were greeted by information on the volcanic deposits in the area as well as some red chickens who seemed to be okay with us being there. The walkway was fairly short but had lots of climbs and descents over pastures and through bush along the Waingongoro River. It was really very nice and ended with a lookout tower of Mount Taranaki. Parts of the hike reminded us of our hikes in Switzerland as we went through what seemed to be private pastures with animals grazing. Nice of farmers to allow hikers.

Hollard Gardens is the last of three best-known gardens overseen by the Taranaki Regional Council that we have visited. It is situated on the former property of the Hollard family. It has beautiful gardens with all kinds of trees, bushes, and flowers as well as a large lawn for events and gazebos for picnics and a playground for the kids and a couple of nice trails. School holidays are on, so many families were out for a picnic.

All of our adventures above and to date have been off of Highway 3 which runs primarily south of New Plymouth on the east side of Mount Taranaki. In the last few days, however, we did a couple of trips off of Highway 45 (the Surf Highway as it goes past lots of beach/surf communities on the west and south coasts of Taranaki). This is one beautiful drive, and it would have been criminal to not have enjoyed some of this before we left.

Our first visit out was to Opunake to do the Opunake Walkway around the coastline of the town. It was a very, very windy day, so we almost seemed to be walking backwards during parts of the walk as we went into the wind. We weren’t really sure what to expect, but it was one of the more interesting walks that we have done — dramatic cliffs, great beaches and a lake, some great gardens along the route, an historical cemetary, etc. We walked into town on the way back to the car. It was a great walk that I would love to do again sometime.

On our way to Opunake, we drove through the town of Oakara which looked really cute, so we went back there on another day to walk through Matekai Park, check out their beach, and then poke through some of the shops on their “main drag.” They have a really nice craft shop, a couple of cute cafes, and a restaurant. The best find though was a specialty food store which sold a number of gourmet cooking items — surprising for such a small town. On the way back into New Plymouth, we stopped at the Okurukuro winery/cafe/function center. We didn’t partake of the wine or food, though with the beautiful weather, they were doing a good business, but we did enjoy the great views of the Tasman Sea. Another great location for a special event.

Today and tomorrow will be rainy which is giving us the excuse we need to be a bit productive.