New Zealand     Back on the north island

Ferry back north.   Uneventful.   Blast through Wellington and head north.   Wind, raining and cold.

Some friends of ours on a catamaran called Nexus have a young man from NZ named Finnbar on as crew. We don’t know him. He got on Nexus in Bali. Through the captain of Nexus I asked for some advice from Finnbar on top 3 things on the north and south islands. Got some good advice and an introduction to his parents who live on the north island.  They invited us for dinner. Typical Kiwi hospitality. Three degrees of separation. A friend of a friends parents. Lovely people. They showed us around New Plymouth and had a very nice dinner and conversation. They put us up for the night. Hope to repay the kindness one day. And, small world, she knows the wife of the fellow John Britten, mentioned in a previous post.

Cool bridge in New Plymouth. On a nice sunny day…..  even nicer.

In the area of New Plymouth is a volcano called Mount Egmont. Also called Mt Taranaki. We went up there monday afternoon but it was pouring rain and blowing stink. You could not even see that there was a volcano there at all. Hoping for better luck Tuesday morning and after leaving our new friends place we headed there again. Completely socked in. Cloud cover probably 1000 foot or less. Drove up it anyway in the hopes of it clearing. Which it did nicely. Got some great pix and did a brutal hike. Like an hour on the stair climber. Thighs are a brining tonight for sure. Then after about 2 hours it socked in again. Hit that one just right.

It is said to be a perfectly symmetrical volcano. It closely resembles Mt Fuji in Japan and was used as a backdrop in the filming of The Last Samurai staring Tom Cruise.

From Wikipedia:

“Although volcanic eruptions are notoriously chaotic in their frequency, some scientists warn that a large eruption is "overdue". Research from Massey University indicates that significant seismic activity is likely again in the next 50 years. Prevailing winds would probably blow ash east, covering much of the North Island, and disrupting air routes, power transmission lines and local water supplies.”

I hope not.

From the north looking south. Hiked up about 1/3 of the way. About killed me!

Coming to an end here. Only a couple more days. We will have put about 5000 Km on this RV before we are done. Hope I had the unlimited millage deal!

M