Dec 2 - 4
To get to New Plymouth, Janet (my other host at Waitomo Caves Guest Lodge) suggested I take the “coastal” route, rather than heading immediately back on the highway. After estimating the distance I’d be travelling before finding a petrol station (maybe 100km) and how far I thought I could go before I’d need to fill up (maybe 125km), I set off. I reached a park with a short walk to a natural land bridge (where a cave had mostly collapsed, leaving just a narrow bit of its roof), which had been a recommended stop. I wandered along the entire trail loop (took some pictures of various sheep and flowers, of course), before getting back on the bike to continue on my way.
As I came to another point of interest, I suddenly realized just how late it had become (4:00 or so) in relation to how far I had to travel (at least another 3 hours), so unfortunately I had to content myself with admiring the scenery as I rode along. It wasn’t long before the road turned to gravel (lots of fun on a bike, even one with tires designed for it!), which continued for much of this part of the trip. As I continued to ride up and down the hills, around various sharp corners, I watched my fuel guage dropping lower and lower, and my odometer get closer and closer to my estimated range. As this is all farmland, with the occassional logging operation, I saw very few houses, most of which looked empty, and in two hours of riding through the back country, saw maybe half a dozen other vehicles (not counting a few other tourists at the scenic stops near Waitomo). With no detailed map of the area, and virtually no signs to tell me whether I was still on the right road, I was becoming quite concerned that I would either end up stranded with no fuel, or have to stop at someone’s house and hope they could help me. Just as I was considering the latter fairly seriously, I came across a gravel truck heading in the same direction as myself, which I took to be a good sign. Perhaps 10 minutes later, I finally saw the end of my road, where it intersected with highway 3. Even better, there was a petrol station just a couple hundred meters after I turned onto the highway (and upon filling the tank I found that I wasn’t quite as low as I feared). Of course, I still had another couple of hours to reach Kindear House in Oakura, just past New Plymouth.
I finally arrived at about 8:00. After unloading my luggage, I popped down to a nearby pub for dinner, which brings up an observation I’ve made on the food in New Zealand - Kiwis don’t know how to make simple foods. You don’t order a cheese pizza with a topping or two, you choose from a selection of pizzas, each with half a dozen toppings. For dinner, I had “The Monsta” - a burger with an bacon, a fried egg, sprouts, and a few other vegetables I have since forgotten. Quite filling, and not bad, though I’m not sure I’d have one on a regular basis.
The next day I popped up to Puke Ariki, the visitor’s center and history museum in New Plymouth. (As a side note, I have been quite impressed with the number and quality of visitor centers (called “i-SITE”s) I’ve seen throughout New Zealand.) I planned to take a quick look through the museum, but ended up spending a couple hours wandering through the exhibits and learning about the region’s history. In particular, they had a section on dairy industry in the area. They showed the evolution from hand-milking in small milking sheds to the modern circular milking sheds, where the cows are milked en masse on a large turntable (heads in the middle).
Once I’d finally finished my walk through the museum, I headed over to St. Mary’s Cathedral, the oldest stone church in New Zealand. The cemetery outside has some big, beautiful trees (one of which had artificial supports helping to hold up one if it’s lower limbs). There are also many graves for those that died during early conflicts between the Pakeha (Europeans) and the Maori.
At around 2:00, I finally headed out of the city to see Mt. Tarakani (a.k.a. Mt. Egmont). The area around the mountain is generally quite flat, and Mt. Taranaki towers above it all, along with a couple smaller volcanos nearby. Mt. Taranaki is currently dormant (having last erupted about 250 years ago), and tall enough that it still has quite a bit of snow around the cone. After riding through a series of switchbacks up the base of the mountain (fun!) I stopped at the visitor’s center for Egmont National Park, where I decided to hike a 2 hour trail. The trail, of course, immediately started out as a series of short, but very steep hills (both up and down) through dense vegetation, before settling into a steady climb. It was pretty clear to me that I was probably not in sufficient physical condition to do the trail, but I was too stubborn to turn back - until the wind picked up and I saw what looked like storm clouds coming around the mountain. As I was less than halfway along the path, I quickly turned around and headed back to the start.
Back near the visitor’s center, I finally thought to look up to see the mountain towering over me. (Why I hadn’t done so before is a mystery.) Half the time, the cone was obscured by the clouds rolling, but I think I got some nice photos. I also met a man setting up some rather extensive radio equipment, preparing to contact other people with similar equipment around the island (think short-wave radio, but with a eight foot antenna).
Tiring of this spot, I got back on the bike and headed back down the mountain, where I followed the road around to the south of the mountain, and up the next road (more switchbacks). More spectacular views of the mountain, this time with the sun behind it illuminating the clouds that were rolling over the top. The clouds actually seemed to be disappating as they passed the mountain, so the mountain looked as if it was wearing a fluffy white cloak. Putting my back to the mountain, provided a beautiful view of the surrounding areas. Lots of photos, of course, though it remains to be seen whether any will be worth sharing.
For my next stop, I headed along the third road up the base of the mountain (still more switchbacks - I think my riding skill is increasing on this trip). This time, the focus was Dawson Falls. It was a relatively short walk to the view point for the falls (all downhill, of course), and I even went so far as to take the steep stairs down to the bottom. I played with the camera a bit, though the light was starting to fail (not that the sun was preparing to set, but that I was in the shadow of a very large mountain). I love taking long exposures of moving water. 
After the steep climb back up the hill to the bike (my legs would be sore for at least a couple days), I again realized I was running low on fuel. A staff member at Dawson Falls Mountain Lodge was kind enough to direct me back to Stratford for fuel - about 20 kilometers away. With my fuel guage reading empty, I coasted down the mountain, and maintaining a very light hand on the throttle I did make it to Stratford, to find the first station closed, and the second having just closed. Fortunately, this was a major route, and there were a couple stations just a little ways further. Given the late hour, I broke my promise not to eat at any chain restaurants I recognized from the states, and grabbed some takeaway from Subway to eat back at my room. The fare was mostly recognizable, of course, but with a couple differences - I had my sub on a garlic bread of some sort, and had ice cream for desert.
The next morning was largely uneventful, aside from having to ride up to New Plymouth in search of an ATM. After finally locating one that was in service, I finally managed to get on the road for Wellington…