We are staying in a ‘tiny house’ just a few blocks from the beach. For 2 days we have tried to walk the beach from Ohawe Beach to Waihi Beach, 3 miles one way.

The pink line along the beach is the route, but it is only accessible at low tide!

Ohawe Beach starts at the mouth of the Waingongoro River where it flows into the Tasman Sea. The same Waingongoro River that we crossed on a narrow swing bridge near the Waingongoro Tramping Hut up on Mt. Taranaki 6 days ago!

The black sand beach stretches away in the distance, we have to reach the last bluff before turning around to come back!

Some of the interesting things we encountered on our attempts. A fisherman, an older catch that someone apparently filleted, a fossil shell and a mummified baby shark?

From our new home base in the tiny village of Ohawe on the south shore of the Taranaki (or Egmont) Cape, we ventured to the Rotokare Scenic Reserve for a hike in native forest and wetland around spring-fed Lake Rotokare. The Reserve has been protected from development since the 1870’s, however, lackadaisical enforcement led to more community involvement in management and ultimately to containment. A predator-proof fence was erected in 2008, completely encircling the Reserve and intensive trapping was conducted, making the Reserve completely mammal free; no rats, mice, weasels, ferrets, stoats, possums, feral dogs or cats, and no pets allowed at all! There is even a double gated entrance to get in and out to ensure that no predators enter!

It was comfortable hiking in the woods on this warm, sunny day! The trail circles the lake, with a small pontoon dock to walk out onto and enjoy the sun and the view, but it was rather windy on the water!

The Reserve is home to several endangered native birds that exist only here, a few other fenced predator-free reserves and on predator-free islands! The saddleback bird or Tieke is one endangered bird that we saw at least 4 of on our walk!

None of the saddleback birds we saw seemed afraid of us at all! To see videos of these birds click HERE for our YouTube channel!

This feeder station is where we saw another endangered bird, the stitchbird or Hihi. It is a smaller wren sized bird and much too fast to film or get a picture of. It is even more endangered than the saddleback, and only exists in fenced reserves with specialized feeding stations like this to provide the nectar they feed on.

Our last day in New Plymouth was yesterday, so we ventured back to the beautiful Pukepura Park and then walked to the waterfront through town and enjoyed a snack at the local Shining Peak Brewery.

We saw the man-made waterfall and the water wheel in the park. The sculpture along the waterfront entices you to sit and enjoy the view next to the headless statues!

Today we drove around the Taranaki cape, stopping to see the replica lighthouse and museum at Cape Egmont Boat Club.

This smaller replica light house displays the original Fresnel lens that operated in the true, bigger lighthouse until 1999. The real lighthouse is several miles down the coast and not open to the public.

A forecast for a beautiful day prompted us to head up to the mountain. We intended to again hike across the Manganui Gorge Bridge but decided to explore the trails a little further down the mountain starting from the Stratford Mountain House, a resort owned and run by the Ngāti Ruanui iwi (tribe), traditional land ‘owners’ of this region. We decided to try the ‘Enchanted Track’ trail, and it was enchanting!

The mountain was almost completely clear today!

The track went up and down over ridges as we rounded the mountain, through a rain forest atmosphere, full of ferns and mosses overhead and underfoot!

We crossed a swinging bridge over the Waingongoro river and took a detour to the Waingongoro hut, a refuge for trekkers complete with woodstove and a drying rack suspended above it, table, benches, sink with running water from tanks of collected rain water, and 2 separate bunkrooms with ample bunks. ‘Long-drop toilet’ out back!

The ‘goblin forest’ of stunted, gnarly trees provides ready made steps of tree roots in steep spots.

As we hiked along I spotted the petals of white flowers littering the path, some were tiny, others about an inch long. Finally we saw the beautiful fragrant large flowers along the path. It is a native New Zealand clematis vine known as ‘puawānanga’ (“flower of the skies”). Usually the vine flowers way up in the canopy, hence the petals on the path, but no flowers around!

Finally after our 4 hour trek out and back, we ended up driving to Dawson Falls!

We explored various venues around town the last few days.

The Museum: ‘Puke Ariki’ (The Hill of the Chief) is a museum standing on what was a great Pā site (fortified Māori village). It displays several permanent exhibits from natural history and colonial history to a trove of Māori Taonga (a Māori term that means a treasured possession, which can include both tangible items like artifacts and intangible concepts such as language and cultural practices. It represents significant cultural, spiritual, and historical value within Māori culture).

A colossal shark hanging from the ceiling, and photos of a glow-worm cave (which we haven’t visited). Out of cultural respect we are requested not to photograph the Maori taonga, most of which were retrieved from swamps in the area when they were drained for agriculture.

The Bridge: On the coastal walk outside of New Plymouth a new bridge “Te Rewa Rewa” crosses a river. According to its designer it should “evoke a sense of wind as a metaphor for the enduring spirit of the dead buried around the Rewa Rewa Pā site at the north end of the bridge.

Many think it looks like a whale skeleton.

The Park: Back at Pukepura Park, we took another trail and found an ancient puripuri tree estimated to be 2,000 years old! It is hollow at the base, but still alive!

The left picture is the trunk, with a hole visible on the right side. From the back of the tree you can look through the interior of the trunk!