Taranaki still rules
The next day (Wednesday), the images on TV were getting worse. I won’t repeat it again, but large scale destruction of vast swathes of land, especially on the East Coast. Prepared, aided, and abetted by Big Ag and Forestry. Unfuckingbelievable. Taranaki got off pretty light, there were local power outages due to storm damage, but nothing too serious. But of course it was too dangerous to do any real hikes, because nobody knew what damage the storm had done to bridges, trees, landslides, etc. and because the cyclone was still lurking nearby.
After checking all news, announcements and so forth, we drove up to North Egmont and walked a short loop close to the visitor centre. You could see lots of damage along the way and the road up to North Egmont was pretty adventurous , dodging parts of trees all the way. But it was worth it! The visitor centre alone is probably worth a visit, but the national park never disappoints. It’s one of those places which is actually more beautiful in bad weather, it adds to the atmosphere. We had to cut short our already short loop because the cloud was moving in fast, zero visibility at 1100m and higher. But still beautiful gnarly trees, moss, and ferns everywhere.
https://link.locusmap.app/r/5csfze
On the way back to New Plymouth, we originally wanted to check out some of the famous gardens, but they were all „closed“ (because storm damage had not yet been assessed). So we settled on the fantastic Pukekura Park instead. What a hardship. đ I admit, I’m so jealous – New Plymouth really has it all. Great beaches, surf, national park, mountains, gardens – and this wonderful park in the middle of the city. Amazing and good onions. See for yourselves.
Next to the park, there’s also a (free) „petting zoo“, very cute (and real fruit ice cream).
