North Island West Coast, and more rain dodging

We crossed the strait again and immediately set off for Whanganui, since we had liked the town earlier but not spent much time there. Our rabid weather forecast checking convinced us that the rain would hold off until we had a chance to visit Taranaki. We got a site along the river and had a nice time watching the baby pukekos wander about. We then went into town and enjoyed the nice old buildings and the cute main street (though everything closes promptly at 5). Treated ourselves to dinner at an Indian place, which was super awesome after quite a while of cooking for ourselves and a long driving/ferry day.

The next day we stopped again at Rapido for a coffee. Guess what, it was raining. The forecast suddenly moved the storm up a whole day and we drove along the coast toward Taranaki while it poured steadily on us. Upon reaching the turnoff to the mountain which we couldn't see, we decided it wasn't worth walking around in the rain for and continued on to the northern end of the mountain peninsula. We stopped at White Cliffs brewery, as it was raining, and mused that the rain might stop if we just had a beer. The beer was pretty good, though not spectacular, and we watched it rain from our vantage near the bar. But behold, our plan actually worked and by the time we left there was a break in the rain and the hint of not-clouds to the north. Amazing!!

We drove a short way down the road to the White Cliffs and walked along the black sand beach below the cliffs. Not sure how the beach is black when the cliffs are white, but hey we're not geologists. We continued north along the highway and passed through the Awakino Gorge. It was beautiful. This section of the west coast of the North Island is at least as beautiful as the scenic route along the west coast of the South Island. We passed the Waitomo area again and continued on to Cambridge, where we spent the night at the holiday park, while it rained. And rained. And rained.

The next day we went to the nearby Maungatautari Ecological Park, another mainland island behind lots of fencing. The place is obviously not very well traveled, as there is a tiny carpark followed by a little more than 1 km of walking through some cow fields. The little orange markers led us astray and we had to bushwhack our way to the gate. Once there, we found that the trail was closed due to construction, though they invited us to walk along the super steep gravel maintenance road instead. We did, for awhile. After a steep climb we decided to just hang out and listen to the birds next to the Jurassic Park style fence. Perhaps not the best stop, but at least it didn't rain on us.

We drove north from there, stopping briefly in Matamata for the Hobbiton sign.

Then we headed to the Coromandel, finding only a bit of rain on the way. We had a nice time here before, and we'd like to spend more time in the area. Too bad it's supposed to rain a lot. Hopefully we'll find a bit of sun here and there...