The day was grey and the air was brisk when we left Opunake. On we trundled round the coast, the road is a little less travelled and is abit bumpier and windier, the farms seem a little less kept and the paddocks seem bigger. Maybe its just because the houses are getting fewer and further between.
The road above is the turn off to Shells Maui Production Station which is also pictured above, a city within itself this facility is huge, it processes the gas coming in from the offshore Maui Platform. This building to the left is the Visitors Centre, it is open seven days a week and you just pull up to the carpark and go in.
It is free and unmanned, there’s heaps of information and interactive displays. Maui is NZ’s single largest energy resource, supplying approximately 85% of the country’s natural gas and about 80% of its LPG. It is well worth a stop for a browse and the toilets are nice and clean.
This facility sums up the wealth lying beneath our farmland and under our sea. Taranaki is the Energy Capital of New Zealand and we are very lucky to have the benefits of these companies coming and setting up shop in our province.
We cant forget our big curious friends, our rich local dairy industry is the cherry on the top for Taranaki…or as others would describe it, our bread and butter.
Rahotu is the next one horse town on the road, it still has a flourishing primary school with a roll of 166 kids. The town was established in 1884 and the school gates bare testament and remembrance to the Great Wars and those locals who fell for our country. This site is always typical in New Zealand, it does not matter how small the town is a memorial lists the names of young men who died in far away places. Its always heart breaking to see multiple surnames of brothers, fathers and sons.
This place certainly puts a smile back on your face though, Rosie does not know what to call it other than the ‘ TeaCup House’.
On the main street, this wee place is covered in cups. A sign welcomes you to come in the gate and have a look around.
Rural living makes for eccentricity ….hard to say but certainly cute and different. Very Route 66 on SH45.
Take a detour out to Parihaka Pa. Once the largest Maori village in New Zealand during the 1860/70s it too crumbles dejectedly in the winter dampness. Curtains twitch as you drive in, houses decay and stripped bodies of cars line the driveways as you drive up to the well kept marble and iron memorial commemorating one of the greatest Maori leaders of all times. A story needs to be told here for visitors, the strength of these people and the wrongs done to them needs to be remembered. There is nothing here now but a feeling of waste. To coin a phrase…’these people once were warriors’….really? Use your Treaty of Waitangi payments and make this place have mana again, show the world your heritage, history and strength. It is a good story, one that needs to be remembered and displayed for visitors at the site. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parihaka
The landscape is dotted with these lumps and mounds, they are lahars, volcanic ash and mud flowing from the mountain to the sea. They are the result of the last volcanic activity from Mt Taranaki hundreds of years ago. These bobbles on the landscape are mainly around this side of the mountain….lucky Rosie and The Operator live on the other side……
The Cape Egmont Lighthouse is located at the end of Cape road and marks the western most point of the Taranaki coastline. Built in London in the mid 1800s the segments were shipped to NZ in 1865. The lighthouse was manually operated till 1986 before it became automated.
It was as cold as a witches tit and blowing a force ten gale when Rosie opened the doors of the camper van. The Operators plan was to stay the night here at the end of the road….the camper was shuddering and swaying, Rosie was terrified the wind was going to blow it over. Good old Cape Egmont, Rosie has never visited this site and found it any different. Shame because it is a rather picturesque albeit rocky place.
No, your eyes are not deceiving you, a tad further around the coast, actually 4 kilometres to be exact, is a replica of the Cape Egmont Lighthouse. It is a smaller version near the Warea Boat Ramp and Boat Club. It houses the original Cape Egmont light and is a museum of sorts open predominately in summer or when they have a volunteer to open the doors. Rumour has it that when the Boat Club is open you can get a drink and a fab meal on their deck overlooking the Tasman Sea…..If you are looking for the famed Stent Road surf beach, blink, and you could miss the turnoff…there is no signpost…it got stolen too often by souvenir hunters…there is a bolder marking the turn off with Stent Road painted on it….
The small town of Okato is next on the road, it is a nice stop for a coffee and wander around to stretch your legs.
The Stony River flows under the old swing bridge on the edge of town, cross it and wander 10 mins through native bush to the Okato Domain and then return. On a fresh day like today it certainly blows out those cobwebs! The water is clear and flows over worn stones and boulders, the mountain looms over you here and you know that if you put in the hand in the icy water it activates every ache and pain you have with its freezing freshness.
A turnoff down Timaru Road leads you to a grassy parking area from there you can walk onto the beach and view the skeletal remains of the SS Gairloch wreck which has been a local landmark for the last century, ever since running aground on Timaru Reef on the 5th January 1903. She has been slowly rusting into the Tasman ever since and makes for a lonely site on the rocky shoreline.
The beaches at this time of the year are pretty empty, they are mainly populated by the hardened dog walkers and exercise freaks. We parked the camper up for the night down the end of Ahuahu Road a couple of kms south of Oakura. Rosie and the Operator have a self contained camper van and it was our first night off the grid or ‘unplugged’ as The Operator likes to call it.
The view from the camper was amazing, we could see right up the coast to New Plymouth and the familiar silhouetted lump of Paritutu Rock. Normally Rosie and The Operator pay to stay the night at camping grounds, we plug our camper into the power box and we have all the comforts of home. Tonight we had no power, we were running the fridge and water heater on gas and we had limited lights run on battery power. Rosie has banned a telly from the camper so that wasn’t missed and we had no heating…its a small camper, a bit of heavy breathing….. And so we waited for nightfall.
What worried Rosie the most was the isolation down this road….it was a little tucked away and we were all on our own…the campground gives you the security of being in a secure surrounding with its muted street lighting, order, rules and no passing traffic. All of which we had none of….Rosie was a little jumpy with cars going back and forth, it is a dead end road…but there are properties along it.
After a fitful sleep we awoke to a beautiful blue sky having survived the night! The Operator was boiling the kettle for a morning coffee and the water was heating for Rosies sponge bath. Off the grid is OK for maybe two nights in a row…then Rosie really does need a shower. Yes, the camper does have a shower….but it does not feel right having a shower in a box the same size as a coffin with the toilet getting a clean at the same time.
We drove to Oakura, its only about a ten mins away from New Plymouth but a world away from the city. The yuppies and artists have taken of the town and the real estate prices let you know nearly everyone has a sea view. We stayed at the Oakura Camping Ground, it is the middle of winter….and was pretty empty. The toilet blocks were getting a spruce up all ready for summer and we had our pick of powered plots. The thin strip of mowen grass is reserved for tents in the summer and we were over the other side of the road, still pretty close to the water. Book early if you are coming to this camp in the summer, it is the place to be New Years Eve!
The town of Oakura is a one street affair, there are plenty of bars, cafes, galleries, gift shops and the like. There is also a bottle shop, 4 square for your groceries and a petrol station. Butlers Reef the local pub has great meals and a huge live music venue area which rocks in the summer.
Rosie and The Operator are going to leave you here, the road curves and winds along the sea front into New Plymouth. Paritutu Rock looms in front of you standing sentinel above Ngamotu and Back beaches, a remnant of the regions volcanic past. Don’t forget to turn around and look behind you and remember this wild salt sprayed misty coastline.
