Sunday, March 10 - Climbing a bit of Mount Taranaki

     We had planned to get an early start from our campground, but ended up chatting with the managers, Bernie and Dean.  They are a wonderful Kiwi couple that we'd already spent about an hour talking to the day before, the kind of people that we became instant friends with.  Like the museum, they would be reason enough to return to NZ to visit some day.

Dean likes old cars.  This one is his daily ride.

Bernie works with Alzheimer patients, perhaps explaining why we got along
with her so well.  

Mount Taranaki last erupted in 1765, but is still considered an active
volcano.

It's one of the most climbed mountains in NZ, but with a total elevation
gain from the start of the trail of over 5000 feet, a lot of it on loose scree,
we had no intention to try it ourselves.  However, we did want to get above
tree line and get a closer look.

They call this part of the climb the goblin forest.  Seems aptly named.

Part way up the climb is this memorial to one of NZ's most famous people.
His face is also on the $5 bill.

The trees start to shrink in size the higher you go.

We stop climbing after we'd ascended about 2000 feet.  You can see the
volcanoes of the central plateau on the horizon.  We had explored those
with the kids several weeks earlier.

Mount Egmont National Park is a perfect circle 12 miles in diameter centered
on the peak of Mount Taranaki.  Mount Egmont is the old name of the mountain.
You can see part of the arc of the tree line defining the border of the park behind
our very fashionable hats.

This is a photo I borrowed from Flickr (for a horse he sure takes good pictures)
(You youngsters out there probably have no idea what horse I'm talking about).
Mount Taranaki with more snow than when we were there. Looks rather
peculiar with that skirt of green, doesn't it.

After such a big hike, I needed a rest