Wanganui Top 10
Maori word of the day: Pakeha – The Maori word for European New Zealanders. Once derogatory, now standard.
Hag Urim Sameach (Happy Hanukka)
After Waitomo we headed south to Mount Taranaki also known as
The 200km drive was scenic (as usual) with good views of the ocean and then the Naki (short for Taranaki) as we got closer. The eruptions created a round peninsula of fertile farmland rising from the sea to where the national park begins. We went on a very short walk from the north visitors center, but did not want to press our luck with antsy kids, so we found a nice patch of grass after 15 minutes and basked in the sun and the glorious mountain.
After another hour of driving we reached the southern access road to the park at
Once the sun set it got cold though, as we were at just under 1000 meters altitude. At 5am when I woke up for a hike, it was very cold outside, and also in the RV. Paola had the kids wrapped in 3 thick layers so when I checked on them, all three were warm and snuggly.
I set off on a short but grueling climb to Fantom’s Peak, a 7km return trip that climbs 1000m to a great viewpoint close to the volcano peak. As I was climbing, clouds started to close in on the mountain and settled at around 1500m (below my elevation) creating a beautiful white ring around the brown and green of the mountain. The last hour of the climb was brutal due to the scoria (lava) pebbles that I kept slipping on.
The views at the peak were well worth climb. I spent a half hour taking pictures and enjoying the quiet. At this peak there is also an overnight hut for multi-day hikers, and a Swiss couple were just leaving. I peaked inside and it was cool to see the high level of maintenance of such a place in the middle of the mountain. Too bad they don’t have these in the
The way down was much faster but very slippery again on the scoria. I made it through and continued down through the cloud until I was below the ring. Clouds looks much better from above than from below. The last part of the return was through a very mossy forest which reminded me of the temperate rainforest in Olympic National Park near
We left a cloudy Taranaki only to reach sunshine two hours later here in Wanganui. We settled into the campground just past noon. The kids spent most of the afternoon on the trampoline, jumping pillow, and playground. We also adopted a 3 year old boy, the son of the maintenance guy, who recently emigrated from
In the evening we celebrated Hanukkah, as best we could with the lack of basics. Instead of donuts we made French toast with honey. Instead of Hanukkah Candles we used tea candles (thick and short). The kids are singing some of the songs, as for the past few days all we are hearing while driving is a Hanukkah playlist on the Ipod.
Good Night,
-Hemi