DAY 21: Limping Around the North Island's West Coast

From NZ - DAY 21

WAITOMO -- I am still in rough shape after that glacier debacle and I am having a really tough time going down stairs and even downward slanted walkways.

Going up hurts, but is not too terrible. It is also really hard to get out of the car. Cripes.

Anyways... Today I took a roundabout way north. I headed along the coast and sought out a lighthouse on the West Coast. That was at Cape Egmont on the border of Egmont National Park, which forms a big circle around a massive Mount Egmont.

It sticks out in the scenary quite a lot when you are anywhere near it. It is quite impressive. The only thing is that I couldn't see the top of it at all today. It was cloudy and raining and only the enormous base of the mountain was visible.

Here and there the clouds broke on parts of the snow caps but never an entire view.

That was unfortunate.

After stopping at a natural site, Dawson Falls (not terribly impressive) I made the trek through the countryside toward Waitomo, where there are some interesting glow-worm caves that I will be checking out tomorrow.

I have bunked down in a hostel not far from the caves tonight. After hobbling through the caves tomorrow I will be heading north again into the Northland depending on the hour in the day.

I have heard it is quite beautiful north of Auckland so I will have to check it out.

After that I am headed back to Auckland for a day or so before coming home.

Also the picture above is from Cape Egmont looking back toward the cloud-covered Mount Egmont, which you can partially see if you look closely. This is one of my favorite pictures that I have taken so far.