Mokau to Home

Herewith the second part of my short road trip- now heading homewards.

I stayed the night in my tent at the camping ground near Mokau- just the other side of the dunes from the waves. It was a place I had driven past often enough when I was a student, and I had always wanted to stay here.  It was coming up to full tide as the sun set, and I sat in my deck chair watching. I fell asleep in my tent with the breakers pounding just metres from my head.

By early morning the tide was lower and I walked along the quiet beach as dawn arrived.

I packed up and started heading south into Taranaki. I planned to re-visit some beaches from my childhood, but I got the timing a bit wrong: high tide meant that I just had to look at them rather than walk along them.

That evening in New Plymouth the plan was to visit Pukekura Park to see the lights. This wooden bridge was crowded with people enjoying the lights, but it was also a special place from my childhood: I have a photo with me standing on here when I was quite young, and I am certain most other Taranaki children have one the same.

Lights of various kinds were in all kinds of unexpected places. I quite liked this eerie effect on the waterwheel.

Next day in the car I explored some of the back roads in Taranaki, on the coast side. To start with the mountain was draped in cloud, but by the time I was getting near Auroa, you could see most of it poking out, with Fantham's Peak prominent from this side.

I decided to head into the national park, to take a look at Dawson Falls. We'd done a bit study on the mountain for seventh form biology, and this plant was one I remembered well. Ourisia macrophyllum is the name that seems lodged in my head.

The climb down to the falls and up again seemed much harder than in my younger days. It's definitely time to get back into walking on some local walking tracks to regain my walking fitness!

I drove back down to the coastal road for more explorations. Otakeho was the name of this village that once would have been the centre of a dairy farming area, but now is barely recognisable as a locality.

Next day it was time to head home. First stop was at Lake Rotokare, where a local group has fenced off a reserve with expensive predator fencing so kiwi can make a come-back here. There was a system of double gates for cars to come in.

Once out of the reserve I set my GPS to give me a route to Tawhiti museum so I could see the Traders and Whalers exhibit. The GPS didn't disappoint and gave me a lovey route that had some of the grandest views of the mountain in the province.

And finally I reached home again, and next day there was time for a walk in Bledisloe Park, where I discovered some of the 'secret' parts of the aboretum that I had never found before. I'll be back!