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Saturday, 31 July, 2004 by Donna V. Whitmore

We finally got to visit Mount Taranaki! Donna came to pick us up early, at which time the mountain was fully visible. As we drove toward the mountain, the clouds began to close in, slowly, but surely!

When we arrived at the visitors' center, the gentlemen there came out to greet us and said, "You are the people I saw in the newspaper!" Wow! What a surprise!

We toured the visitors' center and decided to hike up a trail that would take us to where the snow begins, hoping all the while that the clouds would clear and they did!! Unbelieveable! We didn’t make it to the beginning of the snow but did hike up far enough to get some fantastic pictures. It was very cold, but somehow that didn't matter! We were on the mountain!

Our trip back down was on a second trail that led us off into a most beautiful rain forest and then back to the visitor's center.

We had lunch at Okurukuru, a fantastic restaurant, on an outside patio overlooking the ocean and surrounded by vineyards. This is a relatively new restaurant and they make wine from the grapes they grow. I believe they also told us they grow much of their vegetables and spices - it was another delightful, leisurely meal and lots of fun!

That evening, we were invited to Les and Teresa's home (Les is an official at WITT University) for a barbeque! Les cooked dinner, except for all that cooking his wife had done earlier, and we feasted again, complete with desserts and coffee afterward.

When it got too chilly outside, we adjourned to the living room and told stories, laughed our heads off at Teresa's stories and had another wonderful visit!