New Plymouth - My Home Town

Mount Taranaki (Egmont as it was previously known as) has to be the main highlight and prominent landmark of the small city and provides the local skiers/snowboarders with plenty of Winter activities.

A walk up Parratutu, near the port area, is great exercise and you will be rewarded with a great view of the city, mountain and Tasman Sea.

Pukeiti is famous for its gardens and flowering shurbs.

Pukekura Park with its magnificant gardens, lake and bush settings, provides an escape from the surburban life, not that it's too hectic here. There is an outdoor concert arena situated within the parks limits and a small zoo.

Not far from Pukekura Park is a Model Train Park which has small replicas of steam trains and for a small price the children, both big and small can go for rides.

The beaches, with black sand and big waves, provide surfers with some top surf spots all year round.

This cities highlights are its outdoor activities.

Quick Tips:

Best Way To Get Around:

Hire a car if you have the budget.

If not there is public transportation, buses mainly, to the more popular destinations, but these are few and far between. The buses for the suburbs depart from Liardet Street. There is a taxi rink located in Liardet Street.

The mountain provides hikers with plenty of trails that are clearly marked. The markings are complete with the length of time it will take to hike the trail.

What’s at Okurukuru to enjoy? It has and is many things:

– It is a café.
– It is a restaurant.
– It is a function centre.
– It is New Plymouth’s first established winery.
– It is an art gallery – with works of art that you can purchase.
– It is a fantastic coastal lookout.

Located in Omata, 15 minutes west from the centre of New Plymouth, Okurukuru function centre/restaurant is positioned on a hill top that has uninterrupted views of the ocean and of the surrounding countryside.

This is a fantastic place to venture to:

- For a stroll in the countryside and admiring the view.
- For a late morning brunch, lunch or afternoon snack – there is inside and outside seating available.
- For dinner at night.
- The function rooms are available for Weddings, Business Functions or the like – it even has a helicopter pad for those to wish to arrive in style.

My mother and I went here for lunch one day and we had a delicious soup, grilled sandwiches and warm coffees – it was winter after all.

Everything was very delicious and we enjoyed every mouth full.

Also on the menu were:

- Potted Pies
- Pizzas
- Pastas
- An assortment of desserts

Location and Contact details are:

738 Surf Highway 45, Omata
Phone/Fax – (06) 751 0787

What’s at Waiau Estate to enjoy? It has and is many things:

– It is a café.
– It is a restaurant.
– It is a function centre.
– It is an art gallery – with works of art that you can purchase
– It is located just a short walk from one of the areas great beaches.

Located in Onaero, 20 minutes east from the centre of New Plymouth, Waiau Estate cafee/restaurant is positioned on a hill top that is a short leisurely stroll from the ocean and is nestled amongst shady trees and bushes.

This is a fantastic place to venture to:

- For a stroll in the countryside and admiring the view.
- For a late morning brunch, lunch or afternoon snack – there is inside and outside seating available.
- For dinner at night.
- The function rooms are available for Weddings, Private Functions or the like.

My parents, my niece and nephew and I went here for brunch one day and we all had a serving of delicious waffles, except my father who had a traditional breakfast with sausages, eggs and bacon and to top it off we all ordered a warm drink.

Everything was very yummy and the place was cosy warm with a log fire blasting away in one corner and gas burners near every table.

Location and Contact details are:

19 Onaero Beach Road, Onaero
Phone – (06) 7523609

I have just come back from a recent trip to New Plymouth and while I was there I happened to hear about how the wild seals in the area sunned themselves on the rocks at the old sea break at Port Taranaki. I ventured down there to take a look and was surprised at the number of them and how close I could get to them to get a few photos, mind you they did give a few protests at someone who got too close.

This is a free activity, but if you wish, there are boat trips, leaving from the port, that will take you out to the rocks just off the coast called Seal Rocks, where most of the seals can be found. Unfortunately I don't know the price of these trips.

The city of New Plymouth has completed a fabulous walkway, on the coast, that winds it's way from New Plmouth's eastern coastal district called Fitzroy, along past the central city sea front area, to the Port in the west.

The walkway is completely concreted and is suitable for skate boarders, roller skaters, push bike riders and walkers alike. On an overcast or sunny day, this is a great way to get a bit of fresh air and some gentle exercise.

You don't have to walk the whole track as there are plenty of entry and exit points along the length of it.  These points are clearly indicated with bright yellow signs at the side of the road with the words "Coastal Walkway".

Some of these points have items or points of interest. A couple of these being:

1/ The starting point, Fitzroy, is a popular surf and swimming beach as is East End - the next district past Fitzroy
2/ The centre of town. At this location you can also visit the Museum, Richmond House and the shops
3/ The swimming baths at Kararoa, which also has a playground and rock pools
4/ The port, where you exit the track, there is a souvenir shop and an arts and crafts shop for you to have a look at.

I am unsure of the exact distance, but would say that it would be somewhere between 5 and 7 miles.

Pukekura Park has several entrances, but the main gates are on Lemon Street just up from the city centre.

Through these gates is the Pukekura park Oval, where in the summer you can sit on the grass terraces and watch the occassional game of Cricket or Athletics. You will have to pay an admission fee if it's a club game of cricket.

If you keep following the road around the oval, you will come to an entrance into the park that leads you to the smaller of the two lakes on the park's property. This lake has a beautiful fountain that, when you pay $1, will give a wonderful water display. At Christmas, the fountain is decorated with colored lights.

There is a walking track that will take you around the lake, and there are several tracks that will take you to the other areas of the parks.

In one direction, you can take a short track to the largest of the two lakes. At this lake there is a kiosk where you can get something to eat and/or drink, a dock where you can hire a boat for a couple of hours and row around the lake, and there is also a waterfall which is beautifully decorated at Christmas.

If you follow the paths around this lake, through the beautiful gardens, and taking time to wander through the greenhouses if you wish, you will find yourself at Brooklands Bowl, where there is a concert stage. You can come here to laze on the grass and watch a concert when there's one on. At Christmas they also have Carols by Candlelight. You will have to pay for a ticket to get entrance into the area for a concert.

From here, if you climb the steep hill, you will arrival at another one of the Park's Entrances, The Brooklands Bowl entrance. Near this entrance is the small zoo which is great for kids. The zoo has otters, monkeys, birds and a farm animal section, where the kids can pet the baby animals. The zoo has no admission fee, but has a donation box at the entrance.

Not far from the zoo's entrance is a Gable House, where art shows and exhibitions are held. The artists are frequently local, and the artwork usually depicts local scenery and people.

The park is very popular for wedding photos and for garden weddings, especially on a beautiful sunny day.

New Plymouth has many outdoor bush and parkland walkways, of different difficulties and lengths, to suit any outdoor adventurer seeker.

Those being :-

- The Coastal Walkway – which I have already covered in a previous review in this journal.
- The Huatoki Walkway
- The Te Henui Walkway
- The Barrett Domain
- Mangati Reserve
- Hickford Coastal Park
- Lake Rotomanu
- Lake Mangamahoe
- Burgess Park

I, myself, have not actually walked the entire length of any of the above mentioned walkways but I have used most of them partially.

The Lake Rotomanu walkway is a link sector to the Coastal Walkway and is very popular with the water skiers and wake boarders alike and is also a popular place for people to stop and have a lunch break or picnic. This is only a short walkway that runs between the Lake and Waiwhakaiho River to where the Waiwhakaiho River mouth meets the coast.

The Burgess Park walk is a very short track which takes you through native bushland to a riverside park. The walk takes you past the original site of Hapurunui Pa. From the Pa site you can get some amazing views of the Waiwhakaiho River below. There are amenities and also picnic tables so you take along a picnic lunch or takeaways.

The Lake Mangamahoe has walkways that take you around the lakes edges along hilly forest tracks that offer the walker great views of the lake, Mount Egmont/Taranaki and the surrounding countryside. This parkland also has amenities and picnic tables but, additionally, the area has also got some great mountain bike tracks.

The Te Henui walkway begins at East End Beach Reserve and follows the Te Henui stream inland, through native bushland and grassed areas, to the Pukewarangi Reserve before returning to the coast again. About half way along this walk you’ll find a number of tracks branching of to the Te Henui Cemetery. The Te Henui Cemetery is one of those old cemeteries where the crypts and graves have the great headstones with elaborate engravings and statues and the like. Very interesting to wander around.

The Huatoki walkway begins near the coastline, winds it’s way to St Mary’s Church and Marsland Hill, to Glenpark Reserve and then on to the Huatoki Domain, following the Huatoki Stream all the way. St Mary’s is one of the oldest stone buildings in New Plymouth and has some old graves of the original settlers dating back to the mid 1800’s. A short walk up the Marsland Hill, behind the church, will bring you to the top which was originally a Maori Pa and then, later, the site for the Imperial Troops camp. Marsland Hill has a War Memorial to all the people that were killed during the Maori Wars.

Maps for all the walkways can be picked up from the New Plymouth information office located within the main entry of the New Plymouth Museum – Puke Ariki – at 1 Ariki Street, New Plymouth.

New Plymouth has a significant stretch of coastline—including many surf beaches with black volcanic sands, vast stretches of remote rugged rocky outcrops and areas of tall towering cliffs.

Urenui is approximately a 1 hour drive north of New Plymouth and is where my family and I used to go camping. There is a large camping ground/caravan park situated a stones throw away from the beach. Going to Urenui used to be summer holiday ritual for many other family groups. It has the benefit of having the river—great swimming for the younger kids—and then the surf beach which is great fun for all.

Fitzroy Beach and East End Beach are very popular places for the people of New Plymouth to congregate on a warm summers day to laze about in the sun, catch a few waves and just have fun. Fitzroy Beach joins up with the Waiwhakaiho River mouth to the east and East End Beach to the west. It is fun to stroll along the beach on even the most blustery winters day, winding your way through large pieces of drift woods, throwing a ball for the dog.

Fitzroy beach also has a fanastic camping ground/caravan park that is just a walk over the dune, access to the Coastal Walkway and an outside, chlorinated, swimming pool for those who can’t handle the surf conditions. East End Beach has a large skating rink, a small reserve and access to the Coastal and Te Henui Walkways.

Ngamutu is situated in the port area at the opposite end of town and is a small bay sheltered from the open ocean by seawalls on both side. Ngamutu usually attracts families with infant or small children and has a small reserve area with swings, slides and seesaws. Ngamutu also has access to the Coastal Walkway.

Back Beach is located within 5 minutes drive over the hill from New Plymouths port. This is another popular surfing beach. Back Beach has tall cliff tops that overlook the beach so sun baking is only ever any good in the afternoons.

Paratutu is a large rock formation that juts out from the coastline and has a great walkway up the top where you can get great 360 degree views. Paratutu is just a short walk from Back Beach.

Oakura Beach is further around the eastern coast, about ½ hours drive from New Plymouth and is the place to be seen in summer—surfers, boogey boards, swimmers, sun bakers, families and the like flock here every weekend and there is plenty of beach for everyone to share. Oakura has both the flat beach front as well as tall cliffs at the eastern end – this is the end you walk to if you want to escape the crowd.

Oakura also has a great hotel and a couple of great arts and crafts shops – The Alley Cat and The Crafty Fox.

Located at 1 Ariki Street, New Plymouth, Puke Ariki is a multi-functional building structure that consists of two main building – the first building, the smaller of the two, has a Library, a Research Centre, a Café and the second larger building, closest to the ocean has a Museum, Galleries for exhibits and a Visitor Information Centre in the other building closest to the ocean.

The Library and research Centre is, obviously, where the residents of New Plymouth and visitors to New Plymouth can go to browse through books – with residents being able to borrow books – and research articles in newspapers, microfiche documents and the like.

The Daily News Café is located on the first level above the reception of the Library. In the café you have your choice of seating at small intimate tables either near the large windows that look out to the street and ocean or you can sit further back from the windows. The café has racks of all the daily newspapers from all over New Zealand so you can catch up with news from other regions.

The café serves some delicious food – meat pies, toasted sandwiches, quiches, pastries, cakes, cookies, cheesecakes, fruit pies and many more – and drinks – both cold and hot. The prices are quite reasonable – though maybe not the cheapest around – and the service is very personable.

You can move between the buildings via a enclosed walkway that passes over the street below.

The ground floor of the larger building houses the large main entry/ceremonial foyer and the Visitors Information Centre and Shop. The gift shop has heaps of different items of all things New Zealand and New Plymouth on sale while the Visitors Information Centre has plenty of broachers of what’s going on and when and the helpful staff can assist you with any bookings you wish to make. The centre is open 7 days a week for normal working hours – 9am – 5pm.

The lower ground area is a Gallery that exhibits visiting temporary shows and displays form other museums and from artists and the like – when we went there was an interesting display of contemporary art with interactive displays – this display had computer games, artists designer clothing, an artists comic strip drawings and other contemporary arts/items.

Museum occupies the entire first floor of the building and is separated into 3 sections.

The first section has elaborate displays of natural history of the Taranaki District including heaps of interesting data about the local volcanoes.

The second section has displays depicting what life would have been like during different periods of Taranaki’s history – including an industrial display and a War Memorial.

The third and last section is an area dedicated to Maori history in the Taranaki region and has plenty of fantastic relics from the past including green stone tikis, meres, cloaks, weapons and so much more.

It is so worth a visit.

Located on Vivian Street, just at the foot of Marsland Hill and a 10 minute walk from the centre of New Plymouth, St Marys was one of the first structures erected by the Europeon Settlers in the mid 1800’s and is possibly the oldest remaining church in New Zealand.

The main building of St Marys is made of stone with a slate tiled roof and has many beautiful preserved stained glass windows.

There are several hatchments to different infantry groups, war memorials and a Maori memorial scattered around the internal walls of the church and within the baptistery. The Maori memorial has wooden panels carved with traditional Maori designs which all have a story to tell.

There is one ornately decorated main altar, to the front of the building, centred between choir stalls and behind the lectern.

To the left of the altar is the large pipe organ and to the right is another smaller chapel – The All Saints Chapel where there is a carved altar which is a memorial to one of the late bishops.

Later extensions have been added at various times as the congregation grew with the latest timber Main Entry and Foyer added in the 70’s.

Next door to the church is a grand old house that used to be the minister’s quarters but is now used by youth groups and the like.

The church grounds are dotted with a number of graves of the earliest settlers with some dating back to the 1840’s and is interesting to walk around reading the headstones – entire families are buried here and some of the children were so young.

Behind the church is a walkway that takes you to the top of Marsland Hill where there is a memorial to the people that served in the Maori Wars, a Caroline with many bells – I have not heard the bells playing yet but am told that they do chime on special occasions – and some of the best views in New Plymouth.

This was a great way for me to pass a couple of hours getting to know some of the history of the early settlers and Maori people of New Plymouth and Taranaki.

The entry was free – a donation box is located near the door so I put a couple of dollars in – and there are information booklets, about the church, available for purchase which I did.

Before heading down to New Plymouth, on my last trip over there, I went to visit a friend of mine in Whangarei. Whangarei is situated approximately 2 1/2 hours north of Auckland on the east coast and is a great harbour city (by New Zealand's standards it's a city).

My friend, Sharon, who I met while travelling around Europe, lives in the small harbour town called Whangarei Heads. She has just recently campleted a design course and has a job at Vortex, A designer studio, located at Whangarei Wharf. She was working and has done some great things with clay and weaving as she is part Maori and has been very influenced by their arts and crafts.

Unfortunately I didn't get to see much on this trip but Whangarei has many things to offer, as I have found out on previous trips there.

Those being:

An Old Pioneer Village, which is located opposite Pompallier College, on the outskirts of town heading to Maunu.

The on the inner harbour wharf side there are some fantastic craft shops in which are handicrafts, original fabric designs, Maori Traditional Craftwork, Glass blowing, Jewery and porcelin dolls. Great for a browse around.

Being near the water Whangarei is surrounded by many great sndy beaches, both within the harbour and along the coastline. Some of those beaches are:

Langs Beach, Waipu Cove and Ruakaka Beach to the South.

Matapouri, Whale Bay, Woolleys Beach and Naungaroo to the North.

Whangarei Heads and other smaller beaches within the harbour.

From Whangarei you can also venture to the beautiful Bay of Islands which is home to Keri Keri, Paihia, Russell and Waitangi.

At Keri Keri you can tour around a reconstruction of a Maori Pa and take in the Old Stone Store House which was built by the first settlers.

Russell has some old homes that were erected by the first settlers. Russell can be reached by car, via a car ferry, or by boat.

Paihia has many great restaurants, hotels and shops for the tourists. A Old Ship that houses a Museum is also alongside the main road as you cross the bridge heading from Paihia to Waitangi. It contains shipping memories of the first settlers and is well worth a visit.

At Waitangi you can tour around the site where the Treaty of Waitangi, a peace settlement signed by the first Europeons and the Maoris, was signed. There is a Maori Meeting House there, the Governors original house and a shed that contains a Maori Canoe.

Mount Taranaki is Taranaki's highest peak and is, in fact, the only mountain in the area.

During winter, the mountain has plenty of snow at the top, but the snow hardly ever comes below the ranges.

The mountain only has one ski field, and therefore is only really popular with the locals and people visiting the area at the time. The ski field can only be reached from the Stratford side of the mountain and there is only one road up to the Stratford Mountain House. At the mountain house you have to park your car and hike in the rest of the way on a narrow pathway that will take you around the small gorge to the ski field. I haven't been around here as I have an aversion to heights.

The mountain house is an information office where you can find all sorts of information about the mountain and the history of the area. From here you can find out about the small cabins and hunting lodges that are scattered around.

There are also other roads, from other directions around the mountain, that take you up to various points of interest, like Dawson's Waterfall, and to many walkways.

The mountain is also a popular place for hikers to go in the warmer seasons, as there are plenty of hiking tracks, through beautiful native bush, to waterfalls and up the slopes.

My brother and his family live in Wanagnui, so whenever I am over there visiting New Plymouth I make the effort to go down for a day, at least.

Wanganui is approximately a 2 hour drive south of New Plymouth, and is situated on the Wanganui River, not far from the ocean. It is one of the original old river towns and therefore has many historic houses and businesses.

On the Wanganui River you can travel by an old, refurbished, steamer boat, to a tourist shopping area on the banks, futher up the river. There is a porcelin doll shop, a souvenir shop and a cafe on the river bank. You can then get back on the boat for the return trip. This is a very pleasant way to spend an hour or so.

Another popular place to go in Wanganui, especially for kids, is a large playing park, situated on the opposite side of the river from the main town. This park has a Model Train track and people can pay a couple of dollars to have a ride on a small replica of a steam train. There are picnic benches for eating lunch or dinner, there are swings, slides, climbing gyms and seesaws for the kids and there are quiet areas for adults to read books or just relax.

There are also a number of great antique shops in the main shopping area, that are very reasonably priced, for those who are interested.