New Plymouth and Taranaki

WE HAVE PICTURES! check the old posts to see some highlights.

New city and new batch of stories and adventures to relay. We are in Wanganui at the moment staying at some friend's house that we found on a whim. I guess with only 4.5 million people, you're bound to run in to someone that knows how to get a hold of someone you are looking for.
New Plymouth was nice. The second day of couch surfing took us on another early morning wake-up-walk, this time through Pukekura park. Neat park with a lake and big grass amphitheater on which we lazed away a late morning. The park had a great view of the real highlight of the trip to the region, Mt. Taranaki / Egmont.
We spent 2 days wondering how in the hell a 9000 foot cone came to pop itself straight out of the ocean (anyone who has the privilege of seeing our slide show will be able to tell as we have about 50 shots staring straight up at it). Once we wrapped our minds around it a bit, we were left to wonder at the rest of the mountain's impressive traits. Without really any time to realize it, as you ascend, you go from jungle to forest to alpine tundra in less than an hour, and in some spots you can hit all three as you wind around crossing from ridge to gully.
We camped at a picnic area the first night, however we made the mistake of pitching the tent almost directly under a tree that was dinner for a possum for a couple of hours, so I sat awake just waiting for him to get curious and drop onto the tent, which thankfully never happened. Strange little creatures they are. Their calls sound like a mix between a pig and someone trying to start a motorcycle.
The next day (after sleeping in) we hiked up as far as we could without crampons and ice axes on a nice 3 hour loop. Then drove down and around the base of the mountain and back up a different side and hiked over to Dawson falls. The falls were neat, but on the way we stumbled onto Wilkie's pools, which were a series of smaller falls with neat little pools and slides. We dipped our sore toes and cooled off, which was definately a nice change of pace considering what we have been doing.
Back in the car and on to Wanganui. We stayed last night at a little family run KOA-style campsite. Nothing special except the lady that ran the place might be the most helpful person in New Zealand. Lieschen went in to get a tent spot, but the lady was afraid it might rain so she gave us a cabin for the tent price. Then when she came to check on how we were doing I mentioned rowing and trying to find the boathouse (I figured I would try to find Bob and Jenny from there for those that know what I'm talking about). Turns out her daughter rows, not for Bob, but she called someone she knows who happened to be talking to Bob at the time, got his number, let me use her phone, and made sure I had gotten a hold of him. So here we are, out of the rain staying with Bob and Jenny. Luck is awesome.