Beautiful tree and fern lined road into the Egmont National Park Visitor Centre. There was a dramatic change when entering the park boundaries. Outside the land had been cleared for farming and at the park boundary we seemed to enter a whole new world. The day after arriving back on the North Island, we continued on the Surf Highway around the west coast to see the Cape Egmont lighthouse and Mt. Egmont National Park. We easily found the lighthouse and even found another one that had been recently built by a boat club (although we don’t count this as a ‘true’ lighthouse). On the way we saw some more historic water towers and drove by the Elvis Presley museum in Hawera (but it was closed and we did not get to see the large collection of memorabilia in, of all places, here in New Zealand).
In Ingelwood we enjoyed seeing numerous toys in the Fun-Ho Toy Museum. This toy company made little metal toy cars, tractors, trains, etc. They were originally made with lead and later aluminum and hand painted. Evidently, they were quite popular herein New Zealand and the company at its prime employed 200 people. Now it is down to 1 person who still makes toys out of the original moulds for special orders. Another unusual stop was in Stratford to see Romero and Juliet perform in the glockenspiel in the clock tower (the only glockenspiel here in New Zealand).
After visiting 2 visitor centres in Egmont National Park, we drove on one of those less traveled roads (the Forgotten World Highway from Stratford to Taumaruni). It was wonderful to travel along with almost no traffic on the very winding and very hilly road with 4 saddles to cross. In addition, there were just a few little communities and there was no fuel for the entire way (153 kilometers (95 miles). We even passed thru the Republic of Whangamomona and got a passport at the small hotel so that we could ‘safely pass thru’ the area. Back in 1890’s, the government wanted to move the community on the map from 1 district to another. Since the local people felt attached to their district, they protested by declaring that they were an independent republic. Even though the ‘Republic’ never really formed, they still have fun each year and celebrate their ‘independence’ day.
Last night we camped in the Tongariro National Park and were lulled to sleep by the sound of a stream flowing by. It was cooler than most nights since the camp was over 1,100 meters (3,500 ft. high). The camp was close by the semi-active volcano Mt. Ruapehu (the tallest mountain on the North Island) and just before nightfall, the skies cleared a little and we were able to get a glimpse of the top.
Mt. Taranaki (Mt. Egmont) – a dormant volcano which last erupted in 1775. Sir Edmund Hillary (the 1st one to climb Mt. Everest) climbed this mountain many times in his younger days. We were lucky to see the top because it was hidden with clouds except for a few minutes during the 2 days that we were there.
Cape Egmont Lighthouse with the local bulls wondering what we saw so fascinating about a lighthouse.
The standard method to deliver mail in residential areas is by bicycle. This seems to be such a great way to be eco-friendly – uses less fuel, no parking problems, no traffic jams, etc.). It is also a great way to keep in shape, since many of the cities are quite hilly.
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