Mt. Taranaki, an underestimated mountain

Today we went to Mt. Taranaki at the western end of the North Island of New Zealand. We took the 'Forgotten World Highway' to the parking lot at the foot of the mountain. The day before, we bought a windproof and rainproof jacket in Taupo to better prepare for the changeable weather.

So we got out of the car, dressed in jacket, hat, gloves, and a rain jacket, and started hiking. Unfortunately, we only had summer sneakers, so we had to tackle the hiking trail with them. We had a lot of fun because it didn't take 5 minutes for our shoes to get soaked. So we jumped from rock to rock to avoid the puddles and the snow. Once we reached the top, we discovered a 200-meter long ski slope.

But there were still about 400 meters of elevation to the summit. We really wanted to go up. So we asked which direction we had to walk to reach the top of the mountain.

'You are crazy'  - Mt. Taranaki Information desk

Unfortunately, we were disappointed at the information desk as we were not allowed to climb to the top of the mountain. So we enjoyed the view and then made our way back to the car.