Nov 16, 2025 Three Sisters
We’re moving on from the rural farmhouse but doing some sightseeing on the way. We stopped at a viewpoint to see the Three Sisters and Elephant Rock across the outlet of the Tongaporutu River.
Elephant Rock is in the foreground, no longer looking so much like an elephant. The 3 Sisters are the rock spires in the surf.
The sea stacks are being eroded over the years even as new ones are formed from erosion of the cliffs. At the turn of the century there were 4 Sisters, now only 2 are counted (the smaller of the 3 in the picture above). The Sisters can be approached via a walk along the south bank of the river as it flows to the sea at low tide only. We were going to attempt that walk until we saw hikers returning covered in mud, barefoot, carrying their muddy shoes and attempting to wash the sticky mud off in pools of water along the beach! Also, the tide was coming in! I grabbed a photo off the internet from several years ago of Elephant Rock before erosion caused the loss of the ‘head and trunk’ section of the rock.
We arrived at our next B&B in the town of New Plymouth in the Taranaki Region of the North Island, with Mt. Taranaki overlooking the whole area!
From the front door of the B&B on a good day, Mt. Taranaki can be seen above the neighborhood!