Oak Valley Inn New Plymouth

... along with our old friend the rain! So instead of heading up to the mountain we went right for the water and checked out New Plymouth. We actually stayed a short drive away at Oakura, a small surfing town with a beautiful black sands beach. For the next few days the pattern was wake up, check to see if the rain had stopped, seeing it hadn't we'd take a walk on the beach, get soaked, get dry and make our way into New Plymouth to play tourist. There ...

... ground...very fast! I was tempted...but I didnt bring myself to do it, just looking down the glass floor was enough for me....for now, maybe ill be tempted on my way home! Next I decided what better way to spend a friday night alone than to play in the casino. 3 hours later and i was still there, and ten dollars up thanks to a thirty dollar win in roulette! night well spent! So this morning after a lovely nights sleep in my private...yes private room (luxury after 4 weeks ...

... us and even had two huts to ourselves. The weather was fantastic and was trying to figure out what all the locals kept saying about Taranaki: "If you can't see the mountain, it's raining. If you can see the mountain, it's going to rain." But then we found out the last day (yesterday), the day we were supposed to do the summit... We had spent the night in a poor hut full of other people's trash and rats scampering all over the place, and woke up to ...

... during our stay. When not cloaked in cloud the mountain dominates the skyline and is snow capped year round. Its slopes have some really great walking tracks and for the more adventurous one can trek 5 hours up to the summit, a task not to be taken lightly as the weather conditions can change without warning. On average one person dies on the mountain each year. In the winter months skiing and snow boarding are popular activities. Just 10 minutes down the road is New ...

... and the two girls were cool- we hung out for awhile talking stories and they gave us a good welcoming! :) A few beers later we were ready to hike to the top of the ski field. It took us a good hour or so to hike to the bottom of the mountain and on the way there we got to see the first snow of our trip- in the middle of JUNE we were holding snow! it was a good sign. We hiked to the ski field ...

... end up ruining our weekend, and we could have a day or so after the festival looking for new cars. New Plymouth was a very unexciting town, definately one of the worst in New Zealand so far, but the festival site was really nice. It was held in a park and the camping was on the racecourse, so the grass was beautifully soft and lush (despite the lack of rain) Had a lovely weekend, it was boiling hot and sunny (a real contrast ...

After out longest travelling day, we arrived in New Plymouth. We found the Motel really easily, for a change, we were looking forward to getting on the pool as it had been sunny and hot for the last couple of hours. Unfortunately it was being cleaned though and was full of bits of debris from a new rook the Motel had had installed. Damn ! Instead we went for a walk towards the beach and along the seafront walkway ...

... but it's so freezing cold to cycle there at night, especially when the wind blows at you! The nights have been very windy - I can hear the sound of wind against my window as I sleep. This morning, Janine told me that she discovered 2 woodenplanks from my window on the frontyard! Nevertheless, there's no rain. It hasn't been raining for a long time. There was a forest fire not far from New Plymouth. Farmers are all hoping for rain for the crops & grazing lands.

... og badede - der var sort vulkansk sand, koldt vand og bolger! Vi spiste paa en Seafood restaurant og det var et rigtig hyggeligt sted med god mad selv om det umiddelbart ikke saa saadan ud. Fuldt indblik til kokkenet hvor 2 fyre piskede rundt. Sodt personale specielt en aeldre fyr med kasket og traesko som saa ud som om han lige selv havde vaeret ude og fange fisken. Vi orkede ikke at holde os vaagne til kl 24...... Bodil

I woke up quite early this morning, no doubt having recovered from the excitement of the day before. I thought today that I would head back to Taranaki for a bit to take photographs as I had been unable to take my camera on the climb with me. I headed out at about 9am towards the quaint little town of Stratford. Stratford is a funny little place with all the streets named after Shakespearean characters - it has also twinned itself with numerous other ...