Founded on the banks of the Whanganui River, New Zealand’s Longest navigable watercourse, Wanganui is one of New Zealand’s oldest cities, and a place where we were able to base ourselves for a few a days.We met up with Jimmy, who some of you may know as Mr Leonard, and Iva at their place just outside of town. It was a strange moment meeting up with an old school teacher, who I last saw 7 years ago at the spotty age of 16.They welcomed us into their home with a cold beer and a good catch up. We soon met the rest of the family, the three feline boys and the two free range girls, sure to lay every day.We couldn’t of planned our arrival any better, as Jimmy had his citizenship ceremony the next day. He was now a true kiwi and was able to obtain a NZ passport. The celebrations went on until early hours of the morning with many of their friends turning up to party. It was good to be there as part of Jimmy’s past in Mossley but also to celebrate his future life here with Iva.We spent our time in Wanganui seeing the sites and driving out to some of the local beaches. We visited Ben and Sarah, good friends of Jimmy and Iva’s, and relaxed in their garden with the sun shining, taking a tour of their incredible garden and lavander crop and meeting stinky, their pet goat and honey bees. Visiting Prabh and Emma’s, was also a real treat for my Em as she got a chance to go for a horse ride. We also took a trek up through the bush to take in the views of the valley surrounding their home and ended the evening with a delicious supper.On the 26th we decided to hit the road again, heading west towards ‘Surf Highway 45’ stopping for the night at Waiinu Beach. An excellent stop for travellers, as you can stay here for upto two months for free, but a donation is appreciated. We had hoped to get the rod out and try to catch some tea but local weekend campers Pamela and Eric soon informed us the fishing here was pretty poor however if we wait till low tide we could feast on mussels. With a few hours to wait Eric came round with a treat for us to try, freshly caught whitebait in whisked egg to fry up and make a fritter “something to keep you going till low tide.” To buy these tiny little fish costs over $100 a kg so we enjoyed them whilst they lasted before we collected a bucketful of mussels and sea lettuce for tea.The Surf Highway passes around the provence of Taranaki, which juts out west from the rest of the North Island forming a peninsula centred on Maunga Taranaki/Mt Egmont, an elegant conical volcano rising 2518m from the subtropical coats to its icy summit. Setting our eyes on the mountain we thought it was truly stunning so we camped out alone under its shadow.Travelling around the mountain we arrived at New Plymouth, said to be the best liveable city in the world. We explored the city, took a walk along the coastal walkway alongside the famous Wind Wand and strolled through the beautiful park and free zoo. That evening we camping down on the docks and finally got the rod out, but unfortunately the fish weren't biting so we settled with fish and chips instead.The next morning we met up with Guy, Bev, Nicole and Lauren, a lovely family who are good friends of another lovely family ‘The Peats’ back at home in Galgate. We have really enjoyed our stay here, along with the food and hearing about their travels in Lancaster we have felt at home ourselves.Since we’ve been in Taranaki there has been one thing we can’t escape, and thats the mountain. Its a popular outing in the summer, as the most climbed mountain in New Zealand, but when the snow is covering the summit climbing it is another matter. We hired some crampons and ice axes from ‘Kiwi Outdoors’ in New Plymouth and set out for the summit the following day.The summit is a 8-12hr return trip from the visitor centre at North Egmont. We reached the mountain hut in good time, by this point the winds had began to increase but we pushed on into the snow line. Kitted up with crampons and axe we headed up into the steep sheltered gully, it was not until we traversed onto the north ridge that we got a true taste of the winds, we pushed on a little bit further until we were blasted by shards of snow and ice, which felt like horizontal hailstone. We were 30m or so from the crater rim, but you’ve got to be sensible about these things, so we decided to call it a day. I got a ‘it will always be there lad’ moment. It was an excellent day and it was good to get some alpine action in, we’ll have to save this climb for another day.We are due to leave New Plymouth tomorrow and head north to discover the rest of the highway.Thanks to everyone who has made this leg so enjoyable and memorable.Lee & Emxxx