Gareth's 30th birthday morning started with opening 30 presents from Hannah (all clues to his secret weekend away).
After a short working day, we headed home to start a 4-day weekend, which began with cocktails in the garden, opening more presents and then a meal in our favourite restaurant.
On Friday morning, we headed south towards our final destination of Taranaki, stopping at a kiwi house and organic brewery en route.
Taranaki is on the very west coast of the north island and not really on the way to anywhere, so we hadn't visited it before. New Plymouth is the main town in the area, so we based ourselves there for a weekend of walking, waves and lights. The main attraction is the volcano (Mt Taranaki), which looks exactly like a child's drawing of a volcano (minus the bubbling lava coming out of the crater!).
We hiked half way up and could see all the way across to the mountains in the central north island, which were still capped with snow! Gareth enjoyed using his new GPS tracer to locate the direction of the car and how fast we were walking!
In the evening, we had a picnic in Pukekura Park and waiting for the the festival of lights to start at 8.30pm. This is an annual event that lights up the trees, waterfalls, lake and boats in the park.
The Taranaki region is also known for its surf beaches, so we took our body boards out on Sunday to catch a few waves.
As we drove along the surf highway, we detoured to visit the western lighthouse with great views of Mt Taranaki.
New Plymouth has a 7-km coastal walkway, which we explored. It has an amazing wind wand sculpture standing on the shore next to the city.
On Monday, we decided to take the long route home via the Forgotten World Highway, with unsealed stretches of the road, long tunnels, huge waterfalls and even a little hamlet that has declared itself a republic! Certainly an interesting route back to Auckland.
The birthday celebrations continued through to this weekend with a get-together in Cornwall park. Everyone enjoyed an afternoon of badminton, volleyball, cricket and lots of food to celebrate both Gareth and Laura's 30th birthdays!
Gareth sends thanks for all the cards, presents and birthday wishes.
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