Hiking the mighty Mt Taranaki and exploring its ring of surf beaches and cliff lined shores
The majestic andesitic volcano Mt Taranaki (2518 m) is the central point of the Taranaki Peninsula, which is stunning just viewed on a regular map let alone a topographic one, but much better yet in person. Its near perfect cone is snowcapped, rocky near the peak, cloaked in fairy forests and streams on its upper slopes, which give way to green, green rolling pastures and then black volcanic sand beaches around the entire perimeter.
Approximately 125,000 years old, and last erupting around 1755 AD, the mountain is now considered dormant. Local Māori believe Mounga (Mt) Taranaki once stood with the mountains of the central North Island (where we were in Tongariro last week.) After a dispute over the maiden Pihanga, Taranaki fled his ancestral home, carving out the bed of the Whanganui River on his journey to the coast.
Egmont National Park (34,170 hectares) became New Zealand’s second national park (after Tongariro) in 1900. Named Mt Egmont by Captain Cook, the traditional Māori name of Mt Taranaki is now more widely used, and what I will use here.
I have wanted to come to this area for years and it doesn’t disappoint in any way. We are staying in a small surf town, in a beautiful basement studio that overlooks a valley with a deep river bed (its tinkling sounds rising up to our deck) and across to green hilly pastures. The coast around the peninsula is well known for its surfing, but is incredibly rural, quiet and laid back. The combination of blue surf, black sand, green hills and the white mountaintop are a feast for the eyes and the pace of life seems just right.
Monday – Move Day
Up, pack, clean, petrol up, and we were on our way west. Shortly after leaving the steaming landscape of Taupo, the landscape quickly becomes beautiful pastureland. We had drizzle and rain all day, but decided to make an exploration day of it and ended up taking 10 hours instead of the 4 if we had gone direct with no stops.
First, inspired by the awesome KiwiStories App, we drove to Te Kuiti to see the giant statue of the legendary champion sheep shearer who could fleece 700 in a day. Unfortunately, we are the wrong time of year for the annual games so don’t get to see any action.
We then decided to take the Te Anga Rd to the coast, so headed a little extra north to Waitomo. Lots of big “see the glow worms!” commercial enterprises (in the middle of nowhere) but we (eventually) find the deserted DOC Ruakuri Bushwalk and it is a fantastic beautiful limestone maze walk along stream, past caves, through tunnels and grottos with bridges and waterfalls.
From there on, we had an “attraction” (and by that I mean natural wonder, not commercial one) every ten minutes (all with less than 5 other people, most with none) = Mangapohoe Natural Bridge with its gorgeous double archway (incredible!) and an aborted loop walk after a hundred cows were herded onto the fresh grass of the track; PiriPiri’s big cavern; and the most beautiful falls we may have yet seen – Marokopa Falls (30 meters long, half that wide and containing at least 200 waterfalls within it – all to ourselves.)
Then the real fun began as the road turned extremely rural with pastures and scattered “Stations”, which are big sheep farms. For the next 90 winding minutes, we literally saw more goats on the road than anything else (Official count = 4 goats, 3 vehicles, 2 runaway calves, 2 farmers chatting and 1 ATV.)
Gorgeous green and rocky hills towering above us, we loved it. When we reached the coast and turned south, the beauty continued with headlands and jaw dropping ocean views. New Plymouth itself, the main town just on the edge of the Taranaki peninsula, came as an industrial and commercial shock to the senses, but quickly we were back to green during the fifteen minute drive from there to Oakura as the sun set. It was very late by the time we hauled our stuff down the steps to our studio, moved in and enjoyed our usual salads.
Tip: To see enlarged pictures and descriptions from the gallery blocks, just click on the first picture and a window with larger images will open that you can click through in slideshow mode.
Tuesday
I was up with the sun (it’s bright in here in the morning even with dark shades) and out for beautiful morning walk along Oakura Beach.
We spent the late morning in New Plymouth. The Len Lye Wind Wand isn’t as impressive as we had envisioned (although a very cool concept) but we enjoyed strolling the boardwalk along the shore and seeing a better side of the city than from our quick drive through the night before. The prominent Art Deco style buildings are just a taste of what we will have the next week in Napier.
Mt Taranaki even made a brief full appearance for us from behind its veil of clouds. Back Bay is beautiful with the Sugar Loaf islands and the blackest sand we’ve ever seen, but the tide was too high this day to do any walking there.
The afternoon was a picnic at Oakura Beach and then a drive on the Surf Highway which encircles the Taranaki peninsula, stopping to check out deserted roads, beaches, flat pastureland and lighthouses. It’s beautiful and mostly deserted. A relaxing and enjoyable day, culminating in a walk down to our beach for sunset and a quiet evening.
Wednesday
I was up early for a short walk northeast on Oakura Beach to the river, then we both went to High Tide for flat whites (yum!), had late breakfast and a lazy morning walk to beach to scope wind. Hale spent the afternoon kiting at Oakura while I walked out to the shipwrecked Gairloch (1903) and then up AhuAhu road to Lucy’s Gulley and its perfectly empty, peaceful, cool and majestic redwood grove.
Such a small town – when walking back down AhuAhu, I was passed by none other than Hale headed to scope out another surf beach. We met up at the beach, checked out Weld Rd Beach and I hitched a ride home.
Sunset at the beach with surfing and dog entertainment provided.
Thursday
A clear and beautiful day so off to the mountain we go!
Very pretty drive on deserted roads through rolling pastureland (no, it doesn’t get old since every field is different, some with high rolling hills, some with high cliffs, others with strange small cone hills, and yet others with deep valleys like hollers; some with ocean views and some with mountain views or the luckiest of cows with both) and larger and larger Taranaki views as we circled it and then approached.
We arrived at Dawson Falls Visitor Center, bought a map and started out on the Wilkies Pools track which leads through a “goblin forest” (small and large moss covered trees creating a dark and magical canopy) to a stream and a waterfall through lava formed pools. From there, we carried on the Stratford Plateau track up and east on the mountain side to a gorgeous waterfall off the cliff and then a lookout with stunning views of Taranaki and all the way east to Tongariro. We were shocked that we could see the base of Mt Ruapehu with its top hidden by clouds.
Down, down, down the Enchanted Track through mossy forest to the Waingongoro Gorge and its 24M high swing bridge.
The Hut was a perfect stop for a snack while watching rainbows in the sky and a parasailer high over the ridges we had just hiked. We started talking about wanting to come back to New Zealand every year.
Tramping back towards the visitor center, it was not until we near Dawson Falls that we started to see people. The falls themselves are lovely and we enjoyed chatting with a very nice Kiwi there who (as is typical) shared all her favorite spots around the country with us. Late lunch on a bench admiring the mighty Mounga, another pretty ride home and sunset on the beach watching the surfers.
Friday
Another fine day and we decided on another day on the mountain, but using a different access road this time to give us different trail options and a different side of the mountain to admire. This hike started out easy, the first part is on a 4×4 road after all, but then turned nearly vertical in steepness and suddenly very powerful winds were rushing down from the summit threatening to roll us back down the hill. (It was blowing 55 up there.) Honestly, for about 30 minutes, that section stunk!
After passing the tower that the road led to, we reached the trail and a hut and debated which would be worse – trying to go right back down with the wind pushing us too fast from behind or continuing on as planned using “a poled route below ancient lava flows across exposed alpine terrain” on the steep mountain side? (Ironically, we met another PNW couple at the hut – from Seattle.)
Off we went on the trail and the rest of the hike was stupendous. Windy yes, but more manageable as a cross wind and lots of jutting rocks gave us intermittent breaks. The vegetation is tussock grasslands and herb fields, the deep valleys and steep cliffs jaw dropping and the views out of this world. We enjoyed ourselves so much that we chose a slightly longer route back to indulge in lowland forest before returning to the carpark for a picnic at the viewing platform.
Then we were off to the races – literally! The New Plymouth Raceway holds horse races on various dates throughout the year and when we saw that one fell during our stay, we couldn’t resist the urge to sample this aspect of NZ life.
It was a Friday night and the crowd a mix of society folks in the special areas, corporate sponsored tents which had me laughing at the body language of people pretending to be interested in what a prospective client was saying, owners, regular folk and a bunch of young people dressed to impress and drinking as quickly as they can. The horses are gorgeous, the afternoon was beautiful and only the lame beer selection was slightly disappointing.
Saturday
Perfect weather with the mountain out all day, clear blue skies and temps almost reaching 70. And with low tide at 2pm, a great day to explore two beaches only accessible below half tide. Pretty drive north (do I need to keep saying this? But it’s surprising every time!) just over an hour to the Whitecliffs (Paraninihi) area.
While getting ready to head down to the beach through the riverbed, a couple from a campervan (the only people we saw in the area) came back up and managed to communicate (without much English) that the tide was still too high and up to almost his waist. We went down anyway and by the time we’d walked south playing in caves and admiring a sea arch, the north route was low enough and we proceeded up about 3km along the most gorgeous stretch of beach.
Towering cliffs of all colors (yes white per the name, but also grey, red, golden and mossy green) line the black sand beach, with waterfalls cascading from the pastureland above and caves scattered along the route.
We finished there more quickly than we would have liked in order to have time to drive another 45 minutes to Tongaporutu, which is more popular due to its impressive rock formations on the sand.
By now the tide was already rising so we only had time to walk south, but the bonus of that direction was Mt Taranaki in the distance, seeming to float in the clouds behind the sea stacks, along another coastline of caves, tunnels, and single, double and even triple arches. This is one of New Zealand’s most rapidly eroding pieces of coastline, with the sea constantly eating away and erasing these sandstone creations while at the same time creating new ones. Each year, what you see will be different.
A picnic along the riverbed, a beautiful drive home with a recently overturned car in a ditch serving as a vivid reminder of why we drive slowly on these crazy roads, a late walk at tame, sandy Oakura Beach and back again for sunset.
Sunday
“Deconstructed coffee” at the wonderful vegan Lemonwood Eatery with their friendly owner and staff was a delightful surprise even to us coffee town snobs. Late brunch, interspersed with a couple walks to the beach to check on wind made for a very relaxing early part of the day.
Hale dropped me at the start of the Davies Track in the Kaitake Range, which are the small mountains between Oakaru and Mt Taranaki. The route started through farmland, where I had another cow experience – this time with a Kiwi couple kindly astonished that I could be afraid of cattle.
Once past those dangers, I climbed steadily through bush and a muddy steep track to Patuha Trig, which normally offers great views of the coastline and up to Mt Taranaki, but this day was in a drizzly cloud.
Having a shuttle service today (Hale) I was able to take a different route down. I had read that the last 100m section of that track to the trig is “a scramble up an exposed rocky section which some people may find a challenge” and was cluelessly happy to not have to scramble up it, until I realized I had to make my way down it!
Stalling with an apple snack, I had the good fortune to meet three lovely Kiwis who, as usual, were delighted with our six-month long visit to NZ and wanting to make sure we knew about all the good spots. We also chatted about politics, theirs and ours, and I expressed my embarrassment of ours and admiration of theirs. (We’ve been studiously avoiding US political news, sneaking a peek now and then to see if anything big is happening, but mainly just enjoying a wonderful detox.)
I made it down the steep part and many tough muddy parts through an otherwise lush native lowland coastal forest full of nikau palms, silver ferns, puriri trees and pukatea trees, with the usual melodic birdsong, that ends back at beautiful Lucy’s Gulley which I first saw earlier in the week.
Unfortunately Hale got skunked on wind so no kiting today. As a consolation, I took him into the magical redwoods for a short stroll. It was still drizzling, so a quiet evening at home finally discussing getting our blog posts up in between gazing fascinatedly at the cows grazing in the pastures across the gully from us.
Wrap
This has been a marvelous week in every way and one of my favorite spots in New Zealand. The relaxed vibe and variety of activities is a perfect mix. Add in the intense beauty and relatively low tourism and I’d happily return here for more time. My high expectations for Taranaki were definitely met and I hate to leave so soon.
Week 5 of our journey