New Plymouth

New Plymouth is a port town and the main city in Taranaki on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand.

New Plymouth played host to several maori iwi, as well as an early european whaling trade (noteworthy was the repulsion of a waikato maori war party by Richard barret armed with three cannons)

European Permament settlement started in 1840 with the landing of the William Briant.

New Plymouth now has a population of 47,000. The most notable features are the excellent botanic gardens, the len lye 45 metre high artwork 'the wind wand', and the picturesque views of Mount Taranaki (also referred to as Mount Egmont).

The city is a service centre for the region's principal economic ativities: intensive pastorial dairy farming and oil, gas and petrochemical exploration.

Being a coastal town with a mountain within an hours drive away, the more adventurous residents of the city are able to boast of having snowboarded/skied and surfed all in the same day.