Taranaki, the mountain

Taranaki maunga viewed from The Plateau area of Egmont National Park that it is part of. Egmont was the name that Captain Cook gave the mountain, but the Maori name is more commonly used these days and the mountain's official name is Mt. Taranaki.

Looking out across to the central North Island Plateau area, famous for the active volcanoes Ruapehu, Tongariro and Ngaruhoe. There is a legend that says Taranaki was previously in the center of the North Island, too, but had a battle with Tongariro for the attention of a beautiful little maunga to east, Pihanga, and was banished after losing.

In the 1980s, I worked in the Department of Conservation's Egmont National Park Ranger Center, but it has not been staffed or used for many years now, leaving the native plantings surrounding it to take it over somewhat.

Taranaki, te maunga, causes a lot of rainclouds to form and thousands of streams and rivers flow off its flanks, irrigating the rich volcanic soil of the area that surrounds it. One of them is the Patea River, on the banks of which sits my hometown of Stratford.Read more