March 07, 2014
Our next stop was Egmont National Park, located in the higher elevations of Mount Taranaki, up around the cone of the mountain. Here, the mild coastal climate combines with very high rainfall and cultivates a lush, old-growth rainforest thick with twisted, gnarled trees, lichens, and abundant mossy growth. It has been dubbed a “goblin forest.”
Just driving up towards the park was impressive, the trees becoming increasingly tall and lush the higher we went, and then the cloud cover began increasing. Soon, we’d arrived at the Visitor’s Center.
Not surprisingly, there were many walking tracks from which to choose, taking anywhere from minutes to days to complete. Not having a lot of time left in our day, we opted to take the short track to one of the park’s best sights: Dawson Falls, a 60-foot waterfall that plunges down the side of a cliff into a rocky pool below.
While the hike wasn’t very long, the forest was stunning and different from other forests we’d visited—cooler, wetter, and less subtropical feeling. The term “goblin forest” was actually very descriptive for this as I could imagine goblins, fairies, banshees, and Lord-of-the-Rings types feeling right at home in this dark, mossy place. Below, a few photos from the trail (click on any photo to enlarge).
We walked down to the Dawson Falls lookout, which had a beautiful view of the waterfall, before continuing down steep steps to the pool at the base. Once again, a New Zealand forest trail had blown us away with both incredible beauty and new things to see and experience. Below, a few photos of Dawson Falls.
We walked back to the car and drove down around the back of the mountain to return to New Plymouth. We had one more possible trail walk to do, but at this point we were just too tired, and it had gotten too late to visit the day’s hoped-for winery. While we didn’t get to quite everything on the list, we were more than satisfied with what we’d done.
After stopping at a grocery store for a bottle of wine, we were both craving meat so went to a restaurant that featured both steak and ribs, the Meat and Liquor Steakhouse (the name gets right to the point of the reason to go there!). The place was charming, the food terrific, and since we were early, we had it to ourselves.
How nice to cap this day off with a long bath, wine, and a movie in our room. After checking out of the hotel the next morning, we planned to visit a couple more spots before heading north. –Cyndi
