What a night. Sometime in the middle of the night it began pouring down and it never stops. When I wake up at around 7.30 am it is still raining. I`ll start reading a book.
At 9 am all the others are awake too and we have a breakfast in the campervan. We have found a freedom campsite in Eltham right next to the library.

At 10:30 am we start our journey for today. Because it is raining so much, we decide to drive to New Plymouth and visit a museum and go for a swim in the Aquatic Centre.
While we are driving to New Plymouth the rain gets heavier and heavier. We do hve so mich water on the streets that you gotta be careful.


We park at the carpark right in front of the wind wand and opposite to the i-site. The last time we were here the weather was beautiful. This time it is all wet and very very windy.

We visit the museum Puke Ariki first. That was an awesome experience for our kids. In the basement they had an exhibition about the creatures that in habited the earth before the dinosaur age. With life-sized models and some very interesting details about these creatures. On the other two floors we find out about the gas and oil industry and how the Taranaki volcano was formed over the last 250.000 years.

Afterwards we get a coffee-to-go and make our way back to the campervan. Because there is a heavy rain warning in place for the whole Taranaki region it does not make any sense to plan outdoor activities. We go to the Aquatic Centre in New Plymouth instead. This solves several problems, getting a shower and getting warm at once.

The weather gets better afterwards so we enjoy our ride North on the Highway 3.

In Motonui there is a big methanol plant. Methanol is a product which is used for several other materials we use like silicon, foam, insulation and so on. In the Taranaki region there are many natural gas reserves. This gas is pumped to this plant and the methanol is produced here. With the closeby harbour the liquified methanol can be carried to their customers. All this information can be gathered by a small visitor centre which is right beside the highway.

Then we move on thru a beautiful landscape to our last target for today. The „Three sisters and the Elefant Rock“.


We do get some heavy showers while driving but when we reach the rock the rain is gone. Unfortunetaly the light nearly, too. So we make some picture with the last light of the day.

From a local in New Plymouth we did get the hint, that it is possible to have a look at the „three sisters“ from the opposite site if we follow a small road. We do that and we have the chance to see the rock formation in the dying daylight.


After this last stop we move to Awakino to the Seaview Holiday Park. We do need power and we have to replenish our water. With a nice meal prepared by the superb chef we conclude the day. After that we play some boardgames and Manuela is doing puzzles with Luke or we simply enjoy a glas of wine or read a book. It so late, that I fall asleep while writing these lines. So I have to complete them in the morning while the others are still sleeping.