The Mount Taranaki

When crossing the sign *150 km no gasoline* in Taumanurui, you are on the Forgotten World Highway. And the name fits here perfectly: The road starts through the Shire, this time for real. We always thought before, *but everything is green here,* but now nothing seemed real anymore. All around are hills that are lush green. Occasionally a farmhouse on the side of the road and plenty of sheep, cows, and horses. Once in a while, two happy sheep jump in front of the car (no fear of running them over due to the speed limits). Suddenly, the road becomes a gravel track, and it's quite a long stretch. You have to hope that no one comes in the opposite direction, otherwise it gets really tight. But hardly anything is going on here anyway. In the whole stretch, we encountered maybe 5-6 cars. The next highlight is an old tunnel - driving through the dark vault with minimal side clearance on clay ground. We are then held up by a flock of sheep which is being transferred to another pasture. After over 2 hours, we reach Stratford and our destination: Mount Taranaki. At first, we don't even realize the giant. A perfectly shaped volcano lies before us as if painted. Unfortunately, we wanted to take pictures the next day. We then stay overnight in New Plymouth. When we wake up in the morning, it is unfortunately very cloudy, and we can't see anything of the mountain. Exploring the Surf Highway is also not so great. It's simply too cold and cloudy to visit beaches. So, we make a stop at the Dawson Falls. Here, there is a small hiking trail through a fairy forest. The Wilkie Pools Loop Trek leads to small pools where one can swim if it was warmer. Mount Taranaki hides behind thick clouds behind us. Unfortunately, we have to give up hope of taking a great photo and continue driving. A little further away, we finally have a great view of the volcano (only the top is in clouds).