Sunrises and Staircases

So the last trip I took started out kind of shifty...We ended up with a manual car. While we had know idea on the drive down, that ended up being the only problem all weekend. One of us ended up being able to handle the driving (quite well actually) and we drove out to Mt. Edgemont which is also known as Taranaki.

If you look at a map of the North Island, you'll see a sort of circular peninsula in the south west. Taranaki is in the center of that and is a dormant volcano. It's about a 5 hour drive from Auckland so we stopped in Mokau, a small coastal fishing village. If you blink you'll miss the town which makes the fact that we couldn't find our hostel even more depressing. We ended up checking in around 10pm and thought we'd go see the Black Sand Beaches at night. On our way, some Kiwi's were setting up for a birthday party the next night and invited us to sing karaoke with them and make sure everything worked for their big party. We ended up staying there for a while and singing and chatting. Kiwi hospitality is pretty crazy. Nelly, the hostess who was about 40, kept shoving food and drinks in our faces. It was pretty cool to pick some real Kiwi's minds and singing in front of strangers makes you a lot more daring on the mic.

The next morning we got up early and checked out the beaches. They filmed the Piano on the black sands and it's pretty amazing looking. It's so secluded that the place is mostly untouched. There were a few people surfing but for the most part we were the only people we could see for miles. From the beaches we could also see Taranaki. That day was incredibly clear and we could see for several miles, (Taranaki and Mokua are like 50km apart).

We got to the park at around 10am, rented maps, finished packing, and headed up the first 250 meters of stairs. I really can't stress how many stairs I climbed last weekend. My quads still hurt and it legitimately felt like we were going uphill the whole time. That said the views were phenomenal. Instead of trying to describe them I'll just post my pictures at the end. The place is just amazing and all you can do is just look around. We didn't really do much talking for the 8 hours we spent outside. We took a side trip to some huge water falls and the path there was so beaten up that it felt like we were the first people to discover it. Really just look at the pictures because that will do a much better job than I could ever do.

We got to our Hut (a building with beds and a fireplace) at 7:30 and met a really nice family form New Plymouth, the closest big town. They actually gave us all of their leftovers and fed us very very well. Again the Kiwi's are a nice breed. The next morning we got up at around 6:30 and watched the sunrise. Again just look at the pictures...The sun just peaked up over this mountain out of no where and all of sudden the whole sky turned orange. Probably one of the most amazing things I've seen. There were also some really still ponds that faced Taranaki and in the morning you could get a great reflection of the mountain in the pond. Like I said check out the picture.

On our way out we had to cross 5 rivers. One of them had a bridge but you wouldn't want it to support your weight for very long; it just felt like it could give at any moment. We hiked probably 6 hours the second day and walked up the road to our car at about 3:00. We stopped in the first town on the way back to fuel our cars and our stomachers and headed back home, arriving at 10:00. It was just an amazing trip and I was so excited to be on it (and try out my new camping gear). I've never done anything more extraneous though. We probably were walking up stairs for a total of an 1.75 hours. But as you'll see in the pictures, it's well well worth it.

That's about it for now. I'm in Auckland this weekend but I'll probably take some sort of day trip Sunday. The following weekend I'm heading north to wear the Indian and Pacific Oceans meet. The main idea for the trip has been planned but we haven't figured out all the little details. Most of my weeks have been focused on planning the next weekend and so far everything has gone so well. I'm really loving New Zealand and being outdoors so much. Hopefully the pictures can help you see why.