Mt Taranaki

Mount Taranaki is about a 30 minute drive from town. Sometimes if I feel homesick, I like to look out the window at the mountain and it reminds me of home. Obviously it is only one mountain and not nearly as big as the Rockies, but it is still a comforting similarity. Most days it is covered by cloud so the locals get excited on a clear day and like to start conversations with, "did you notice, you can see the mountain today?!" As it stands alone with no other mountains in sight, it's known around here as simply, "the mountain." The movie, The Last Samurai, was actually filmed near the mountain as it bears a close resemblance to Mount Fuji in Japan. The region of Taranaki is named after the mountain. We live in the city of New Plymouth, which is in the region of Taranaki.

View of the mountain from Tyler's work.

View of the mountain from the golf course.

There are numerous hiking trails around the mountain and you can also climb to the top. We've heard summiting the mountain is quite difficult as the weather is very unpredictable and there have been a few people who have died because they were unprepared. However, it still the most climbed mountain in NZ because of its easy accessibility. It's common for people to go up with a guide. It's definitely a goal of ours to summit it before we leave here but I don't think we are in good enough shape this year! You can also ski the mountain in the winter however the snow isn't that great and the grade is fairly steep. We might try it once just to say we did it :)

                                               

We have done two different tramps on the mountain so far. The vegetation is amazing. We felt like we were walking through an enchanted forest in some parts. We're so lucky it is so close to where we live. Tramping the mountain is a great activity even when the weather isn't that nice as the tree cover shelters you from most of the rain. Actually the two times we have been the weather was cloudy with some rain so we don't have any clear pictures of the mountain yet. 

Can't see much through the clouds!

 We had to climb a few ladders on one of the trails.

Love the moss on all the trees!

 You can only see half of the mountain through the clouds.

Lots of stairs makes for a good workout!

It's hard not to want to hike when all of this beauty is right in our backyard! We're looking forward to eventually hiking all the trails around the mountain and getting to the top one day :)

My mom is coming this week for a two week visit and we are both so excited to see her! We have planned a 10 day road trip down to the South island so I will be sure to post lots of pictures and stories of our adventures when we are back!