Day 372 – Walking up an active volcanic mountain

We pack up and check out, for the second time, of The Devon Hotel

The first point of call is New World (a supermarket) to get some supplies as well as have some brekkie

Bacon & egg bagel, pesto & basil pasta and a couple of flat whites

After, we get on the road and get to Lake Mangamahoe; we drive to the end of the road to a viewpoint

Annoyingly, though the day is quite nice, it seems the cloud is against us and covers up our view of Mount Taranaki completely ☹️

We drive back towards the exit and have a couple stops where the cloud uncovers part of it!

It’s not too long to drive to Mount Taranaki / Egmont National Park Visitor Centre – it’s dedicated to the many tramping and hiking tracks available from here to walk up

We’re advised to start by using the Veronica Loop Track and walk a little further to reach a bench with a viewpoint for lunch

Doing just that, we have a break for lunch and are fueled to continue upwards – our hope is to reach some snow

We walk up the Holly Hut Track coming across some others coming down and telling us it’s not far to go

There’s a split in the road and we head upwards into cloud and snow!

We keep going as we’re feeling up to it until the cloud becomes too much and it’s looking dangerous to continue

It takes us about an hour and a quarter to make our way back down and we refuel on some pastries and water before getting in the car and setting off for where we’re staying tonight

Almost half way through the drive, Dave notices that even though it’s far away, you can actually see the entirety of Mount Taranaki as the cloud has cleared!