Mt. Taranaki and The Forgotten World Highway

We drove about three hours north to Mt. Taranaki wondering if we had made a good choice for our week end excursion. It was rainy and we had been told that the volcanic, snow covered mountain wouldn’t be visible. Upon arriving, it was true that we couldn’t see it, but we drove to the Visitor’s Center anyway and took a short walk to Dawson Falls, very nice even in the drizzle.  Then we headed to the sunnier beach highway and New Plymouth, a nice drive and pleasant town. We saw runners and assumed they were running a very tough and hilly marathon, but later found out it was a 160K run around the mountain and the runners had started the night before. No wonder the runners were looking rough! 

 

 After seeing a bit of blue sky early Sunday morning and then a glimpse of the peak of Mt. Taranki, we immediately drove to a different park entrance and walked about twenty minutes, oohing and aahing all the way.

This view was a 10!

By the time we were back in the car, the mountain was covered with clouds.

 

Apparently in the winter skiers must walk the same path that we walked, and then take a gondola across this gorge to the ski hillls! Jim thinks it would be great fun!

                                                       

The Forgotten World Highway is a 150 km road winding through the picturesque countryside with an almost ghost town, an old coal mining village, good views of the nearby volcanoes when the weather is clear, which it wasn’t, the historic Moki tunnel, and a waterfall. It’s about a three hour drive, but with all the photo ops and hikes it took us eight hours.

Walking through a farmer's field for a waterfall.

Moki Tunnel built in the 1930's