Weekend wanderings

Long weekends are great times to climb mountains. So I jumped in Carol and Richards "Blue Lady" and off we headed to Taranaki. A vigorous climb to the 2000m mark up the flank of the mountain saw us arrive at Fanthams Peak and Syme Hut, where we were treated to a fantastic sunset and view of the Comet McNaught. View from the hut looks pretty much like this.














Next morning was a different story...the weather did not comply so after nearly blowing into Comet McNaughts' orbit we hightailed off the mountain and went on a wee road trip through the Forgotten Highway.




















A real gem, one I'd never done. Highlight has to be the Republic of Whangamomona...this place is just dripping history. And yes its a dead set republic, complete with a president! This I assume is the Parliamentary Building....



















Just up the road we found the highest waterfall in the North Island, quite randomly really. At 82m still pretty much a small trickle by South Island standards, but very pretty nonetheless.

So from there it was up the road to National Park for a night of Jacob Oram watching. Is it true that Chris Cairns is now the poor mans Jake?

The final stanza in the weekend was an assualt on a misty and windy Mt Ngauruhoe...which once we'd summited decided to become decidedly unwindy and very sunny....Oh well we got nice views on the way down that were much better than the inside of a cloud!


View from the summit next to the seriously imposing crater rim.........



















.....and view from the bottom. Dammit!