New Plymouth and Mount Taranaki

Hello friends!  It's been another two weeks ( I think) since I last wrote a blurb with some photos, so expect double the dosage of your weekly Claire this time around. My parents have come and are now enjoying Sydney, Australia while I take pre-spring break tests. I loved having them here and getting to show them around Welly, as well as traveling with them. The first weekend after their arrival, we headed  off to New Plymouth to explore Egmont National Park. It was a five hour drive, which Jack (did I mention he also came?) was not too pleased about. We made it to Egmont, which is home to Mount Taranaki, a beautiful snowcapped mountain.....which I didn't really get to see, as it was foggy and rainy that Saturday. We ventured on a trail anyway, figuring that we had to do some hiking as we had traveled this far. The sights were wonderful and calming, until we came across a stream that had risen too high for us to get across by foot. It was the last leg of our hike as well, Mar was not having it and so we had to turn around and hike back the same way we came. The rain put a damper on things ( pun intended) but we made the best of it so here are a few snaps from the National Park:

We stayed the night in New Plymouth and hung around some nice sulfur pools, which was warm and cosy but also freezing when you weren't in the water. If you can't tell, I'm finishing writing this post a few weeks later, because life gets in the way sometimes. We stayed at a really cute bed and breakfast that night, and the name didn't stick with me, but I did enjoy sipping hot cocoa by a crackling fire and catching up on some netflix.  The town was small and not very busy, yet seems like it would be a hotspot during the summer season with its 4 person bikes and mountain views. Before heading back to Welly, we stopped at the beach and took some more photos, so here we are folks:

I fell in trying to get an artsy photo, serves me right

If you look closely, you can see how dorky Martin is and wrote "Farnan"

I'm planning on getting my Thailand/ Bali and Australia posts up sooner, as next week is  not as busy and I'll be hanging around quite a bit ( Fingers crossed). I hope you enjoyed this family weekend away! I miss my parents quite often, so getting to see them was so enjoyable. I also had a week of not paying for my own food so that was also great!