Taranaki Landscapes 4

This batch of photos was taken early 2007 while based in Eltham helping renovate an old villa. The town of Eltham has a few thousand people and you can still hear the cows mooing from surrounding farms. The sky around here is still fairly dominated by the mountain.

Dusk cloud formations

The highest lookout point around is the rooftop

Dawns rays hit the bare summer mountain

New plymouth waterfront

Street architecture

Auckland could learn a thing or two

Birdwatching to be had

Desert road outlook on weekend trip to eastern Ruapehu

Ngarohoe in exceptionally clear weather

Climbing past Tukino ski village is incredibly hot and dusty

Mangatoetoenui Glacier below Te Huehue, the usual way up this side, but we neglected to bring our crampons

Whangehu hut perched on bluff above river by same name.

Sunset from 2100m

Looking straight down to the river--ring side seats.

The headwaters of the Whangaehu is its glacier and crater lake, source of impending lahar flows.

Dramatic volcanic landscape

Definately for those that want to get away from it all

Looking up the ridge to cathedral rocks and summit plateau.

More distant view of same on descent

Some serious heat scorched those rocks

Rolling Rangipo badlands

Its a vast cold desert

Main trunk power grid

Dusk sky images on road trip home

Ditto

Three sisters on Taranaki coast

Then straight into the Auckland rush hour. Bit of a shock to the system, but storm clouds on the estuary are oddly calming

Back home and making the most of the clear weather, before winter arrives with a Taranaki climb

Coastline, climbing above the Manganui skifield at dawn

Clear but misty morning

Ascent is via Curtis ridge (to left of scree field at left), descent via East ridge (right of shadowed gut right off summit)

Less common view of Syme hut on route

and its Fanthom peak location

Shows Curtis ridge in its entirety, and the carpark at its base center left. What snow remains is icy.

Southeastern panorama

Southwestern panorama

The turtle at right and pyramids at center.

Looking down Carrington ridge to Holly hut, the Dome, and the Ahukawakawa swampland

Steep drop off western summit rocks

Piece o cake to the north west

Sharks fin sans ice

Massive ersion in gorge below pyramids has closed the track there.

Massive gorges in the southwest area, Kahui hut at right. There is a summit route in there some where

Deeply cut water courses stemming from one of NZs highest rainfall areas

A side view of Curtis ridge, and its unstable scree fields. Lots of falling rocks.

Descending the bald rock slopes prevalent on the upper eastern slopes--easy travel for the coolheaded

Photos index

2008-10-25 www.zoneblue.nz/cms/page.php?view=taranaki-landscapes-4