New Plymouth/Egmont National Park 2018

Our first night in New Plymouth, we walked into the botanical gardens of Pukekura Park to see the Festival of Light (a yearly display from the middle of December - February 5).  One entrance to the park is on one side of the home we are staying in.  Walking through the park at night gives one similar sensations to being in Disney World at night. New Plymouth does an excellent job creating light displays paired with music. There are also performances in the various venues each night.

Afternoon tea at the Tea House at Pukepura Park

Performance in Pukekura Park

Janet Muggeridge & Dave Murphy Performance

Pan - fun for everyone

Mt Taranaki is the central point of Egmont National Park.  This dormant volcano last erupted around 1755 and is approximately 125,000 years old.  The second oldest national park in New Zealand, Egmont National Park began in 1900.  The more widely used Mauri name of Mt. Taranaki is now used for Mount Egmont.

Approaching Taranaki from New Plymouth

Driving to Mount Taranaki

Mount Taranaki from the North Egmont Visitor Centre

We walked two of the tracks through "goblin forests" - Ngatoro and Connett Tracks.

Genie walking Connett Trail

Lichen

Goblin Forest

Kapuni Tack and Wilkies Pool Track

Lookout at Dawson Falls Visitors Centre

Goblin Forests

G listening to a gray warbler

Dawson Falls

Kapuni Loop Track

Wilke's Pools

Wilke's Pool Track

Our favorite "goblin forest" walk East Egmont
Patea Loop Track

Manuka Flowers - favorite of bees for making
Manuka honey that has acclaimed medicinal powers

We enjoyed an overcast day by walking in Tupare gardens just outside of the city of New Plymouth. We definitely want to go back for exercise and to explore the beautiful gardens.  In late October and early November, the Gardens are abloom with azaleas and rhododendrons. People come from all over to view them. This time of year there is every color hydrangea that you can imagine.  

Tupare House

Burma Trail

Rest stops along New Plymouth Coastal Walkway (and cycleway)

Sign outside a New Plymouth coffee house

Coromandel

The Coromandel

On our way to Coromandel we stopped a Miranda Shorebird Center.  We saw thousands of migrating birds - godwits, wrybills, and pied stilts were the only ones we could see close enough to identify.

Migrating birds at Miranda Shorebird Center
The small birds in the center are wrybills.

The bach on Wyuna Bay had amazing views of the ocean, islands, and mussel beds.

We drove up 309 Road to Waiau Waterfall (disappointing) and on to the Kauri Grove.  The Kauri Grove was great with a short 10 minute loop path.  You passed Siamese Kauri Trees and other large trees likely to be about 800 to 1000 years old.  

Large kauri tree

Kauri grove

We visited the Driving Creek Railwaywhich has an hour long trip on the property of Barry Brickell.  A narrow guage railway doesn't sound that exciting until you know the whole background story.  

Barry Bricknel, a teacher who came to Coromandel to teach quit his job after 2 years to pursue his career as a potter.  He bought a plot of 60 acres of land that had a outbuildings and places where he could find clay to make his pots.  To get the clay back to his barn he started to lay track and build a railway.  He wasn't an engineer.  He just figured out how to build the track himself, making switch backs to climb the side of the hill.  He made the track from old rails he got from the old railroads no longer in use in New Zealand.  He dug and lay the track himself.  Over the years the track got longer and longer.  The track climbs up to the Eyeful Tower - a tower he built with views down over the town, bay and islands below.  At some point, someone encouraged him to give rides to people and charge them so he could fund his artwork.  It has been running for 
years now, and the train has brought many tourists to the area in fact recently they had their millionth visitor.  He has become a well-known sculptor, and many sculptors have come to learn from him over the years.  There are many large kilns and workshops on the property.  He also built an area on his land that it's fenced and 
predatir free so he could have kiwis on his property and reintroduce other native species back to this spot.  There was so much to see.  Sadly we learned on the news that he died of cancer this week at the age of 80.

Clay ready for working on the bench and kilns in the back.

http://www.drivingcreekrailway.co.nz/Building-DCR.cfm

The small train moving through the bush

One of the switch backs for the train.

They consumed a great deal of wine while making the
track

View from Eyefull tower

All the bricks making the tunnel and walls were made
from the clay on the property and in the kilns
made by other handmade bricks

We hiked down to beautiful Catherdral Cove on the east coast

Upper view of Cathedral Cove

Views near Cathedral Cove

On the beach at Cathedral Cove