Mount Taranaki

From Wellington we moved along the West Coast up to Mount Taranaki. An incredibly scenic volcano and impressive feature on every map due to its circular shape.
After consulting the local tourist information we decided to head up to the summit esrly on the next day to avoid a wind that is coming up in the afternoon. Therefore we slept right at the trail head so it saved us some time in the morning. With the wind chill the temperature went down to 8 degrees. We still managed got up at 5:30 and hike for three hours before making the first break. Another hour later we were on top and as soon as you were out of the sun it was freezing cold. But the views from there were stunning and absolutely worth the pain of getting up so early :) The descent was a bit difficult because a steep part was unsealed so you could basically just slide down and fall all the time.
After spending the night in New Plymouth we made another hike. This time up to a ridge line next to Mt Taranaki. Little did we know that it was two hours of stair climbing. Once again it was worth it because we were able to get an almost perfect reflection of the mountain.Read more