2026-05-26 • Whanganui - Mt Taranaki and New Plymouth

This post comes with soundtrack. We hit the road from Whanganui and started playing the Slacks and some other local music - we loved theSlacks and the variety of the music from Bob Dylan to the Arctic Monkeys and a few things in between. At some point we saw Mount Taranaki popping between clouds and it’s majestic, coming out of nowhere. We also bought 1.5kg of parmesan cheese in the factory in Eltham.

We drove to one of the car parks inside the natural park, and did a couple of walks before night - the Kapuni loop and Wilkies pools track (with cold plunge included!) - the forest was looking ancient and wise, with vines and lichen around the trees, and their roots were creating the path steps. The next day we did a longer walk around with more views of Taranaki and the circle of nature around.

We drove to New Plymouth through the surf highway and when we arrived we climbed the Paritutu rock to see the amazing views from the top. New Plymouth has really good cafes, breweries and restaurants so we tried a few! We also did the two bigger local museums. It was a nice stay.

We only had time for a last walk around Taranaki before moving on with what’s coming next - we’re on the way to Hobbiton!

Photos

• Screaming tree

• E II R

• The forest

• Tree beard

• Life on the death

• More forest

• We can see Taranaki

• Little bath at Wilkies pools

• The not scary bridge

• A new duck for the duckedex

• Power generation

• Power generation how to

• Waterfall

• I wanna draw this

• Tornado tree

• With the friends the trees

• The views

• The opposite views

• We got service

• Autumn is here

• Sunshine

• The scary bridge

• God rays on the way

• It was maybe wise

• The surf highway

• Look at the wood

• New Plymouth

• Taranaki should be there

• Climbing down

• Avo on toast

• Glacier coffee

• A round tree on the walkway

• Contemporary

• Gardens at the park

• Animal relationships

• A real pinball

• Monsters

• Fancy dinner

• The famous bridge

• Fun Ho

• Ho Ho

• Last walk around

• Going down again

• Kereru

• The summit track

• Bamboo forest

• The blackbird and the moon

• A new friend

• The greenhouse

• A nice garden

Walks

• 20260526_Kapuni Loop

• 20260526_Longer Loop

• 20260526_Wilkies Pools Loop

• 20260527_Paritutu Rock

• 20260528_Mangorei Track to Pouākai Tarns

• 20260529_Veronica Track