Mount Taranaki National Park and Forgotten World Highway

Heading North

The last days, we had been busy organising our trip and getting all the necessary stuff together. We had gotten charger for New Zealand, a cassette for playing our music in the car, food and maps. On the 30thSeptember 2013, we officially started. We headed north to the Taranaki region. The first days, I would not drive, because I was too afraid of driving after I had heard about a tragic accident. As my boyfriend didn’t mind to drive, I could enjoy the scenery. But anyway, I also paid attention to the roads, because in the first days, it is easy to fall back in your habit on driving on the right side. When there are other cars on the street it is easy to keep to the left side driving and it also helps to know that the driver should always sit in the middle of the road. However, especially when there are no cars on the roads, or after turning, you will automatically drive to your usual side. So, it is always good to have two pairs of eyes paying attention. It happened to him a few times and also later to me. Luckily, the co-driver had always noticed.

We stopped for a break in Whanganui (by the way, in Maori the wh is pronounced as a f) and saw some beautiful beaches on our way on the surf highway as the one of Patea and Opunake. The landscape is breath-taking and changes within short distances immensely: from low hills, over rugged mountains and forests to kilometre long fields, at which during this time many calves, lambs and baby goats are jumping around.

It was a cloudy day, which is why we only saw the roots of Mount Taranaki. We had found a backpacking hostel to sleep in New Plymouth. It was our first night as official travellers and we enjoyed the friendly atmosphere. In the evening, it had cleared up a bit and we went for a walk at the beach and had an amazing sunset over the sea.

Maori legend

In the next morning, we drove via Stratford to the Taranaki National Park. The Maori people have many stories about the history of New Zeland. I like them very much and that is, why I will tell them to you: After many years of peaceful co-living with the other male mountains Ruapehu, Ngauruhoe and Tongariro, Taranaki had a fight with them over the female mountain Pihanga. Tongariro and Taranaki were in love with her, but Tongariro was the stronger one. When the fight was over Taranaki was so sad that he left them. On his way to the sea, he created a long pit, which is now the river Whanganui.

Mount Taranaki National Park

We were really lucky with the day. We had been told that only on few days per year it is possible to completely see Mount Taranaki because normally he disappears in the clouds. We were able to completely see him and he is stunning with his summit full of snow. While hiking, it was even warm enough to walk just in shirts. We hiked to the Startford Plateau, the Wilkie Pools and the Dawson Falls. The paths are varied as they are completely natural. We enjoyed the day a lot, with a lot of sun and stunning views. Overnight, we stayed at a backpacker hostel in Stratford.

The next day, we visited the Hollard Gardens, which Bernie Hollard and his wife Rose planted and constructed in 1924, with the aim to make people happy with their beautiful flowers and trees. And it was really amazingly beautiful! Also, you could always see the Mount Taranaki in the background. In the afternoon, we went again hiking. This time on the other side to the ski slope, where, of course, at this time of the year no snow was to be seen. It lies only higher in the mountains. Sadly, the weather didn’t stay as good and the peak disappeared in the clouds. Even though, the view was amazing. We could even see the mountains of the Tongariro National Parks, where we will be heading in the next days. Although the view got worse, the weather was still good for hiking. We were lucky with that, because they say it is not likely to be like that and there are only few days like these in the year. Even though this is a famous, touristic region, we didn’t meet many other people and so could experience the quietness of nature and we enjoyed it! On top of the mountain we found a warning sign, which said it was only allowed to continue with sufficient knowledge and equipment, warning to be aware of sudden changes in weather, which are pretty likely. It was written in exactly two languages: one time in English, of course, and one time in German. Now everyone can think about that. In the evening, we went to the local swimming pool, mostly because we didn’t want to shower in our backpackers. Also, we didn’t want to cook there, before having washed all the dishes. The rest was ok and the owners nice, but we were happy that we had our own sleeping bags.

Forgotten World Highway

Before leaving, we fuelled up our car and took a reserve can with fuel, because we knew that on this way we would not find a gas station. Our way would lead us over the Forgotten World Highway to the Tongariro National Park. Why this street is called Forgotten World Highway, would be clear soon: after a short time, you were far away from everything. Sometimes the highway would not even be a real street anymore, but just a gravel road. It just seemed to be completely forgotten about. Additionally, you will also forget everything around you, just to get lost in this beautiful landscapes, which will change after every corner. Again, we were very lucky with the weather, for spring it was really warm and sunny. We followed the winding roads for hours and just stopped a few times to make hiking detours to bridges, tunnels or viewing points. It was amazingly calm and relaxing. I think it was only twice that we met other people. Late in the afternoon, we arrived in the National Park Village and found a nice backpacker with clean bathrooms and kitchen. What a nice day, it couldn’t be any more perfect. As it is mostly Germans travelling here – I don’t know why, but they are everywhere – we found two girls of the same age and watched video cassettes with them – yes, video cassettes, they don’t have DVD’s. Apart from them, we didn’t make friends until now, which is also a bit difficult, if you never stay more than one or two nights in the same place.

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