(Barely) Working Title: How to retire in your twenties
Adventurous as ever and keen to get up close and personal with our new friend, we spoke with the Department of Conservation (DOC) about climbing to the summit of Mount Taranaki. “Yes, of course you can climb to the summit. It is rather late in the season and we’ve had two snowfalls in the last week. There have been recent deaths here too but I take it you are both experienced Mountaineers with ice-picks and cramp-ons?", replied the DOC rep. Whilst this warning had a little too much sass for my liking, we agreed to heed it in order to stay alive.
This put a bit of a dampener on things as we’d been excited at the prospect of climbing our biggest peak to date, only to be hampered by the weather. Is this Great Britain?
Fortunately there are lots of tramping adventures in Egmont National Park, and we decided to challenge ourselves by taking on the two day Pouakai Circuit. The Pouakai Range stands shoulder to shoulder (though a small shoulder comparatively) with Taranaki and the circuit offers views of our gigantic friend and surrounding settlements (New Plymouth, Stratford, Egmont Village, Inglewood, Okato etc.), from 1200-1400m above sea level. This 25km trek through sub-alpine terrain would be our biggest challenge so far!
Naturally, we decided to prepare for this walk by doing another very long walk in New Plymouth. The Coastal Walkway runs 12.7km along the sea front at New Plymouth. We had wonderful weather which lifted the spirits and we almost made it to Paritutu rock (a rock named after a parrot's tutu, obviously) before going to get some rest. We camped at Lake Rotomanu - a popular and beautiful lake and freedom camping area, before waking up obscenely early to take on Pouakai.
Lewis George
81 chapters
16 Apr 2020
Walk this Way
April 15, 2019
|
New Plymouth, Taranaki
Adventurous as ever and keen to get up close and personal with our new friend, we spoke with the Department of Conservation (DOC) about climbing to the summit of Mount Taranaki. “Yes, of course you can climb to the summit. It is rather late in the season and we’ve had two snowfalls in the last week. There have been recent deaths here too but I take it you are both experienced Mountaineers with ice-picks and cramp-ons?", replied the DOC rep. Whilst this warning had a little too much sass for my liking, we agreed to heed it in order to stay alive.
This put a bit of a dampener on things as we’d been excited at the prospect of climbing our biggest peak to date, only to be hampered by the weather. Is this Great Britain?
Fortunately there are lots of tramping adventures in Egmont National Park, and we decided to challenge ourselves by taking on the two day Pouakai Circuit. The Pouakai Range stands shoulder to shoulder (though a small shoulder comparatively) with Taranaki and the circuit offers views of our gigantic friend and surrounding settlements (New Plymouth, Stratford, Egmont Village, Inglewood, Okato etc.), from 1200-1400m above sea level. This 25km trek through sub-alpine terrain would be our biggest challenge so far!
Naturally, we decided to prepare for this walk by doing another very long walk in New Plymouth. The Coastal Walkway runs 12.7km along the sea front at New Plymouth. We had wonderful weather which lifted the spirits and we almost made it to Paritutu rock (a rock named after a parrot's tutu, obviously) before going to get some rest. We camped at Lake Rotomanu - a popular and beautiful lake and freedom camping area, before waking up obscenely early to take on Pouakai.
1.
The first trip: Miranda to Thames
2.
Land of the Long, White Cloud
3.
Backyard Exploring
4.
Hit the Road, Jack
5.
Under the Weather
6.
The Road of Death?
7.
An Eel called "Eel"
8.
Descent into the Black Abyss...
9.
Everybody's Going Surfing...
10.
Living in a van: is this the real life?
11.
Out with the Old and in with the New (Plymouth)
12.
Walk this Way
13.
The Great Taranaki
14.
The "Forgotten" Highway
15.
Chronicle + Art = Article
16.
Derby Day
17.
Mission Accomplished: Come on you Nix!
18.
The post-Phoenix hangover
19.
The Tongariro Alpine Crossing
20.
Whanganui 2 - This Time it’s Personal
21.
Tui-many puns and Hastings
22.
The Giant Among Us & Bell Rock
23.
Acoustics, Art & A Bloody Cold Sea
24.
Napier Calling
25.
Bridget Jones' Diary - Cheese, Chocolate, Wine
26.
Land and Sea
27.
Mahia-hee, Mahia-hu...
28.
The Gisborne Identity
29.
East Cape Escape
30.
The Long and Winding Road
31.
More or Less Pork.
32.
The Land of the Rising Sun
33.
Hikurangi: Reaching New Heights
34.
Stingray, Stingray!
35.
Bay of Plenty (of Surprises)
36.
Future Reflections
37.
Birthday Part 1 - Going Off Pissed
38.
Birthday Part 2 - Going En Piste
39.
Mid-Winter Christmas
40.
I Get Knocked Down (But I Get Up Again)
41.
Job Hunting: I Need a Dollar, Dollar
42.
Busy Earnin'
43.
Hoppy Daze
44.
Making a House a Home
45.
What to expect when you’re expecting
46.
Bright Lights, Big City
47.
Feeling Each and Every Mile
48.
What to export when you're exporting
49.
Waipapa Marae: An Unexpected Welcome
50.
Tane of the Sky Father
51.
The Boy Most Likely To
52.
Go Rooster!
53.
Friday 13th
54.
Mild Orange, Heavy Chest
55.
Champions of the World
56.
Wild, Wild West (Auckland)
57.
Team Zlatan Heineken
58.
Great Expectations
59.
Un petit rendezvous
60.
Duck Island (sans canards)
61.
It’s Coming Home?
62.
Culture, init?
63.
Sue’s Turtle Garden
64.
New Caledonia - It’s a Rollercoaster (metaphorically)
65.
It’s gone abroad...
66.
Future Me Hates Me
67.
“You can’t beat Wellington on a sunny day”
68.
Te Papa Tongarewa: New Zealand’s Treasure Chest
69.
Island in the Sun
70.
Wine on Waiheke
71.
I'm Dreaming of a Really Sunny and Warm as Hell Christmas
72.
A Visitor!
73.
New Year, New Zealand
74.
Worm-tomo
75.
A Vicious Cycle
76.
Tongario 2.0: This time it's actually visible
77.
Wow Nature, you furry
78.
Whakarewarewa: Living Māori Vilage
79.
Ain't No Mountain...
80.
Hot Rodders & Hotter Weather
81.
North Shore, Not Sure
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