A Road Trip to Taranaki

We’ve just spent the last couple of weeks or so on a road trip from Wellington to Taranaki (via the Kapiti Coast, Horowhenua, the Manawatu and Whanganui). Some of these areas we were already fairly familiar with, but Taranaki was a completely new region for us – and wow, did we have a great time!

Taranaki is a pretty isolated and wild part of New Zealand, and truly stunning in its own way – with black sand beaches, lots of driftwood and big surf, and the looming presence of a huge snow-capped volcano (Mt Taranaki).

For part of the trip we were joined by Mark and Sam, and we all spent three happy, lazy days exploring, drinking lots of coffee, watching surfers, having a bit of a bush-walk half way up the volcano, swimming in the river, and plenty of G&Ts, barbeques and laughter in the evenings.

We also managed to go to the amazing “Festival of Lights” in New Plymouth several times. This free event in one of the local parks features live bands and entertainment most nights and a stunning lighting up of the park every evening. The kids were up dancing at the front of the stage more than once, and their highlight of the holiday was when we took a little row boat out on the lake one evening (to quote Alfie: “I CAN’T believe we’re really doing this!!!”)

New Plymouth also has a great coastal walkway, an 11km path from one end of town to the other. It was just perfect for the kids on their scooters, and featured a couple of playparks along the route as well as an awesome little outdoor cafe with bean bags and surfboard tables facing out towards the ocean - and it also served what were possibly the best iced chocolate drinks in the universe.

Meanwhile, Jake’s been surfing most days, and we’ve all been swimming in the ocean and splashing around in the surf a lot.

Alfie’s favourite Christmas present this year was a boogie board from his sister, and he’s had so much use from it on this holiday. It’s been so lovely to watch his pride each time he gets his wetsuit on and carries the board (all by himself) from the car to the water each day, and so lovely to watch the look on his face every time he catches a fast wave into the shore.

Unfortunately, towards the end of the trip we had an unfortunate accident with the boogie board when a cat got hold of it and ripped it to shreds. The look of devastation on Alfie’s face and the sound of his wailing (“it was my favourite ever present, I want that cat to go away for EVER!”) was quite heart-breaking.

He was quickly calmed down with the promise of pizza, which we took down to the beach and ate it while we watched the sunset, the perfect way to spend our last night in Taranaki.