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New Zealand
travel - get FREE detailed information on accommodation, attractions, things to do and see
and much, much more. Just click here. . .
This guide is the big
picture, the overall view, but if you want detailed information
on what to see, where to go, where to eat, where to stay go to
my
(Not quite) Complete Guide to New Zealand Travel
Where to stay, where to eat, what to
see. Yes, all that. But much more. It is aimed primarily at self-drive travellers and they
need to know much more.
The problem is how to deliver
this information in a logical way - and I have decided to serve it up as the
road rolls under you. That is, the information is given kilometre by
kilometre for each of the state highways.
It is a work in progress. And so far it has been seven years in the
making. It is far from complete, but if you are touring
NZ you may find it useful.
Click here to visit the (Not
quite) Complete Guide To New Zealand Travel.
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New Plymouth and Taranaki
New Zealand
"One
of the world's natural gardens . . . "
Mt Egmont
Taranaki has the disadvantage that
it's stuck out there on the west, off the most obvious
track from North to South Island. As a result it doesn't
get as many visitors as it otherwise might. Or ought.
But it has
special appeal to two groups of people.
- those
who are interested in trekking in a pristine
outdoor environment
- those
interested in gardens
Trekking
and the outdoors.
Like much
of NZ, Taranaki has some great outdoors recreational
opportunities. Egmont National Park, created in 1875,
covers 24,000 hectares of unspoiled native forest.
In
particular the walks in the Dawson's Falls area are an escape
back to the environment in its virgin state. Dawson Falls
themselves, a 16.5m drop, are only 20minutes from the end
of the road. Dawson Falls Mountain Lodge, first established
in 1896, at the road head, is one of the most popular of
mountain accommodation stays. Half way up Pembroke Road is Mountain House Motor Lodge.
Very popular is the
Around-the-Mountain circuit - 45km and about three to
five days walking. Modern DOC huts are spaced at approx
one day's walk apart. The track is well constructed and
well marked.
In adddition there are a
whole rage of shorter walks ranging from 15mins to a day.
Get the DOC pamphlet "Short Walks In Egmont National
Park" for more details.
There are also three club
huts on the mountain that can be used by making prior
arrangements with the clubs. Contact addresses are
available from the Department of Conservation office in Stratford, Ph
07-765-5144.
The
Gardens
But
Taranaki has another side to its nature - its gardens.
With a temperate climate and an even spread of rainfall
throughout the year, it is an ideal environment for many
colourful shrubs. Indeed, only the fact that it is so far
from a natural source of wild species prevented NZ from
becoming a profusion of rhododendron and azaleas.
Paramount
among the gardens of Taranaki are Pukekura Park, Tupare,
Hollard's Garden and the Pukeiti Trust.
Pukekura
Park is right in the centre of the city.
Allow at least an hour and preferably two to stroll along
its walks and among its display houses. There's an
excellent kiosk there for am/pm teas or lunches. Or take
a picnic lunch, and sit outdoors in a particularly
beautiful setting.
Behind
Pukekura Park is Brooklands Park and the
Brooklands Bowl. You can walk through to Brooklands.
Where
Pukekura is an intense planting of shrubs, Brooklands
tends to be more of the traditional style
"English" park. It has two trees of particular
note - one, a Spanish Chestnut is 150 yrs old and
believed to have the largest spread in the world, the
other, a giant puriri, is about 2000 years old.
Opposite
the gates to Brooklands Park is The Gables, a
delightful old gabled colonial house, originally used as
a hospital.
Tupare, today in
the safe custody of the Taranaki Regional Council, was
the home and life's work of Sir Russell and Lady Mathews
who, over a period of 50 years transformed it from a
gorse covered wilderness to one of the finest landscape
gardens in NZ. It is on a par with the best of English
gardens. The house on the site is by a leading architect
of the day, Chapman-Taylor, and is regarded as of great
historic and artistic value in its own right. It is at
487 Mangorei Rd, about 7km from the city. Take Mangorei
Rd from Devon St. Continue on Mangorei Rd, turn r. into
Baker Rd to join Carrington R for Hurworth and Pukeiti.
Pukeiti is 23km out of
town. Take Carrington Rd out from the city and stay on it
all the way. Nestled in a saddle on the outflung arm of
Mt Egmont, Pukeiti is 364ha of rhododendrons, azaleas and
camellias. Established by a group of rhodo fanciers, it
is, with 800 varieties, the largest collection of this
genus in NZ, and one of the most comprehensive in the
world. At its best in October and November.
On the way
to Pukeiti, along Carrington Rd, stop for a look at Hurworth, the simple
pioneer home of four-time Premier Sir Harry Atkinson.
It's not he that makes this place worth the stop, but
rather the insight into colonial life. The timber was pit
sawn by Atkinson himself - thus it is not the mansion of
a landowner-statesman, but rather the simple cottage of
an intelligent pioneer, not ashamed to earn a living at
the bottom of a saw pit.
Hollard
Garden, Manaia Rd, Kaponga. 500 varieties of
rhodo, azalea and camellia in another garden that has had
love, care and attention lavished on it for over 50
years. The 3.8 hectare Central Taranaki garden is the
work and vision of dairy farmer/horticulturalist, Bernie
Hollard, who began intensively gardening part of his farm
in 1927, and built up a unique and significant heritage
plant collection.
There are
a number of other gardens worth looking at if you have a
particular interest in the subject - Aramauna
Gardens, 3 Beaconsfield Rd, Stratford. Three
acres of rhodos, camellias and azaleas in a woodland
setting. Open June 1 to Nov 26.
In Oct/Nov
the Truby
King Dell, a small reserve of massed azalea,
esp. azalea mollis. Open any time.
The New
Plymouth Information Centre can give you more details of
private gardens open to view.
Other
Places Of Interest
Fancy a
drop of traditional English mild ale? On SH3 north of New
Plymouth, and 4.5kms north of Urenui you can visit Whitecliffs Brewing Company, a working brewery,
and sample Mike's mild ale, a hand-crafted English mild
ale style produced by traditional methods. Open 7 days
9.30-6.
Tawhiti Museum, at 401 Ohangai Rd,
Hawera, is one of the better regional museums and is
probably the best privately owned museum in the country.
Won a lot of Tourism awards anyway. Worth a taking a
dekko (a look, for youse what don't compre the local
lingo). A collection of life size exhibits and scale
models housed in a former cheese factory. The models and
figures are all made on the premises and arranged with
local artefact to bring Taranaki history to life.
While
you're in Hawera get an inside look at New Zealand's
biggest export, dairy products, at one of the main plants
of New Zealand's biggest company, Fonterra. This is the
dairy company that processes about 90% of the country's
milk production, marketing it to just about every country
on the planet. And this is the biggest milk processing
plant in the world. The interactive display at Dairyland
Visitor Centre backgrounds its
products, technology and markets. Licensed cafe on site.
Open 7 days 9-5. Cnr Whareroa Rd and SH3..
The Wind Wand on the foreshore, near Pukeariki
Landing, Molesworth St, New Plymouth. The sculpture is
based on a design created by international recognised
artist Len Lye in the 1960's. He attemped to build a Wind
Wand in both New York and Vancouver but only today's
technology has enabled his dream to become reality. The
light on the top of the wand was switched on for the
first time on New Years Eve 2000. Ideal starting point
for the coastal walkway.
Energy
Projects
Taranaki is the county's
major energy producing province with major gas and oil fields on and
offshore. It
has one of the world's historic oil well sites - at
Ngamotu Beach in New Plymouth there's an original beam
pump that stands on the site of an 1866 oil strike - the
world's second ever commercial oil find.
Getting
There By Car
Taranaki
is a 4 and-a-half hour drive on State Highway 3 from
Auckland or Wellington and only 2 and-a-half hours south
of the Waitomo Caves. This northern route takes you
through the wooded Awakino Gorge, along a dramatic
coastline of north Taranaki and over bush clad Mount
Messenger. Watch out for the tunnels they leave lying in
the middle of the road. I didn't, and tried once,
unsuccessfully, to widen said tunnel. Not a good look for
the panel-work.
Or you can
take an alternative route on State Highway 43, now named
the Forgotten Highway, from the central North Island
tourist destinations of Taupo and Rotorua. This
challenging drive of gorges and saddles is New Zealand's
first Heritage Trail. Enroute you can take a walking
trail to Mt Damper Falls, the second highest in the
country, see the New Zealand of yesteryear including the
almost ghost town of Whangamomona, famous for its
old-style pub and annual "separatist" day, the
last Saturday of October.
A New Zealand Travel Guide is
written by David Morris and published by
New-Zealand-travel-guide.com
148 Hillsborough Rd, Hillsborough,
Auckland 1042,
New Zealand.
Phone (Country code 64, area code 9) 625-6469
Email: drm@visitnz.co.nz
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A New Zealand
Travel Guide]
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