Mount Egmont/Taranaki

Photograph of a small pool of water in volcanic rock under moonlight

Wow, despite having a bad knee at the moment (I see to have strained it from enjoying myself too much) I just finished a 2 day treck around Mount Taranaki (aka Egmont), the Volcanoe taht over looks new Plymouth and the one used in Last Samurai. I started off spending the night in this old hut a part of the way up the mountain, I had the whole hut to myself and everything creaked and it was cold and I was reading Lord of the Rings and Frodo was coming through Shelobs layer and seeing Mount Doom and I was also alone in the dark under the shadow of an impressive Volcano too and to be honest I spooked myself out a bit........but it was cool!!! The following day I woke up to an amazingly clear view, I could see all the way to the Tongariro nation park (and the actual Mount Doom from the film) and ate my breakfast enjoying the view and the solitude. I then climb half way up the montains North side and followed a track around over a cool slip and to the west side. I spent a few hours climbing down to some mashes between Mount Taranaki and Mount Pourakai and then climbed mount Pourakai and spent the night in a hut on there. Pourakai is the extinct volcano that was on the same fault as Taranaki before the plates moved over it. I spent the eventing talking to some German people that were there under candle light and I also went out taking some long exposure photographs under the full moonlight, it was amazing!!!