Metropolitan flair and natural idyll

After our long stay in Blenheim, we had some excursions and adventures ahead of us, and with them our last month, which we could spend exclusively traveling. First of all, we wanted to visit Wellington for a few days and tick off some tourist attractions here. So we visited the Parliament building and got a little tour through the different rooms. Or we took the Cable Car to the Botanic Garden. For lunch, we treated ourselves to a delicious burger at Ekim Burger. We also visited New Zealand's best museum, Te Papa, where even a special exhibition took place in collaboration with Weta Cave (the company for special effects that was involved in the production of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit). In 'Gallipoli', we learned about New Zealand's involvement in the First World War and the figures created by Weta Cave in this context were quite impressive. Despite the serious topic, we were even more excited about the following day, when we had booked a tour of the Weta Cave workshop. Here we got an interesting behind-the-scenes look at film production and got to see some original props. After two packed days in Wellington, we continued north to Egmont National Park.

After a short stroll through Whanganui halfway, we pitched our camp on a campground on the edge of the national park. The next morning, we wanted to start our 3-day hike at the foot of Mt Taranaki, the Pouakai Circuit. This time, however, we didn't have our tent with us, but planned to spend the two nights in huts. With bright sunshine, we set off and after what felt like 5km uphill, we were not only pretty exhausted, but also trapped in the clouds. Nevertheless, we had some beautiful views at times, even if the summit of the volcano often hid in the clouds. After some tricky climbs over rock piles and along a landslide slope, we were quite happy when we reached our first hut already around noon. It was beautifully located in the shadow of the mountain. But the idyll didn't last long, because in the evening the hut was overrun by 15-20 students. Well, at least there was some life in the place and they didn't behave badly after all. On the second day, our path led through a swampy landscape and of course Toni, thanks to his grand hiking shoes, got his feet wet right away. Unfortunately, the weather continued to deteriorate and so we covered the last few kilometers only in the fog. When we arrived at our second hut, we made ourselves comfortable and later realized that we would spend this night here alone. In the middle of nowhere, several hours' walk from the nearest road, it was a bit creepy. However, the next and last morning greeted us with rain and stormy wind. So we would have to complete our last and longest stage wet and without any further view of the definitely amazing landscape around us. When we arrived at the car 8 hours later, completely soaked and exhausted, we were slightly annoyed but still proud to have made it. And despite the mixed weather, we also took some beautiful pictures.