These satellite images show where we are on the North Island. The right image is the North Island, the red square on the upper area is Auckland, the pink outline on the lower left is the Taranaki region. The image on the left is a closeup of Taranaki, the pink dot is approximately where we’re staying. The colors are accurate. The dark circle is Te Papa-Kura-o-Taranaki, formerly known as Egmont National Park, established in 1900. It is covered with native forest surrounding the almost symmetrical cone of 8,261 ft. high Mt. Taranaki. The surrounding volcanic plains have been developed into mostly dairy farms. In January, 2025 Mt. Taranaki became the only mountain in the world granted legal personhood, affording it the same rights, powers, duties and responsibilities as a person under the law, joining the Whanganui River as the only river granted personhood. Imagine 85% of the North Island was covered in forest before Europeans arrived!Since today was forecast to be partly cloudy we decided to take a road trip. We headed up toward the mountain.

The mountain top faded in and out of the clouds as we drove up the southern flank. At one point the clouds retreated enough that we had a clear view of the peak.

From the gravel parking lot at the end of the road we walked the half mile up to the Manganui Gorge bridge, constructed just a year and a half ago.

An impressive swing bridge built to make the passage over the Manganui Gorge more safe. Especially since the trail leads to the only ski area on the mountain!

The bridge is guarded by Rakahore, the personification of rock. He is one of the protectors of Mother Earth (Papa) against the attacks of Ocean Maid (Hine-moana). He holds a touchstone that visitors can touch to connect the past with the future.

The Manganui Ski slope, 3 tow lifts after a 30 minute hike from the parking area. At least there is a ‘flying fox’, a basket strung across the gorge on cables, to transport your gear to the small ski lodge / mountain hut.

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!

Our first outing by car from the property! We went out to celebrate Robert’s birthday at a local pub, a 20 minute drive down a narrow gravel road, hoping we wouldn’t encounter an empty log truck coming up the road! A nearby property is being clear cut and the road is heavily traveled by log trucks and local loggers in their ‘utes’ (the term here for any utility vehicle).

We made it safely down the road and enjoyed a wonderful pub meal of burgers and chips with a beer!

After arriving safely up the gravel road we enjoyed a partly sunny afternoon on the back deck watching the sun illuminate the forested bluff. We had a somewhat colorful sunset to the west at the front of the house!

We’ve had stormy, rainy, windy weather since we got here. We are happy to lounge in the house, enjoying sleeping, eating, snacking, napping, eating again, watching TV, reading and canoodling. We did take a short walk during a break in the weather to stretch our legs.

A view of the homestead as we departed for our walk with the native forest covered hill in the background.

We walked over a hill and down the gravel road to see the muddy Mokau River flowing by on its path to the Tasman Sea.

The close-by hills are heavily grazed by mostly dairy cattle and some sheep. The distant hills are covered in dark native bush.

We enjoy watching the dairy cows parade past the back of the house on their several-times daily trek to and from milking or moving from paddock to paddock.

Moving day today. We’re heading west but we have to go north first! The next big town north is Te Kuiti where we resupplied at the larger grocery store and the department store. We also took a nice walk around town and had lunch at a café in the old train station.

There are lots of ‘larger than life’ sites in Te Kuiti! A huge statue of a sheep-shearer, a statue of a famous rugby player, a mural of ‘Auntie’ at Aunties Laundromat, a mural of the native NZ falcon, and a statue of a Maori warrior!

We continued on our way to our next B&B, a large farmhouse in rural Awakino, about 9 miles to the ocean beaches on the ‘wild west coast’ of the North Island.

A beautiful old farmhouse with 3 bedrooms to choose from, old-growth knot-free wood paneling, doors and window sashes, wood cabinetry in a modern kitchen with a 5 burner gas stove, and 360 degree views of surrounding hillsides cloaked in native bush!