Thursday 6 We travelled on two cars to Egmont Eco Leisure Park, our accommodation for the night, with a brief stop for lunch on the way. A fatal accident not far from The Three Sisters delayed our journey by more than 2 hours, arriving in New Plymouth at about 6ish. A delicious cook up of long life noodles and fresh organic vegetables from Sunny's garden to celebrate Carl's birthday made this a special occasion. After birthday toasts, wishes and song; we were 'shouted' to a decadent chocolate gateau by Carl. Friday 7 After an elaborate breakfast and special Egmont Honey toast, a shuttle picked us at 8am to North Egmont carpark. It was a beautiful sunny day and we were thrilled to see Mt Taranaki and manifested with our yoga poses for photographs. We climbed steadily uphill through the forest before passing the turnoff to the plateau; and large boulders and Boomerang slips. We made several stops to admire the phenomenal, spectacular and striking sceneries. This included the red water of the Kokowai stream. After about 5 hours later(7.5km), we were delighted to find lots of empty beds in Holly hut which has 32 bunks. Energised after afternoon tea, a few of us ventured to Bells Falls (about 1.5 hours return). Saturday 8 It was cloudy and almost whiteout condition when we set off at 8am after our breakfast. We walked on the broadwalks across the Akukawakawa swamp; climbed a ridge on the other side of the swamp and continued to Pouakai hut with 16 bunks. This took us about 2.5 hours (4.5km). Once again, we were blessed with beds for the night. After lunch and cups of refreshing beverages, some of us set off to the Tarn. Unfortunately we could only see a glimpse of Mt Taranaki after waiting for a prolonged time. Sunday 9 An early morning breakfast and departure at 7.40am down the easy broadwalk Mangorei Track, we arrived at the car park at 9.30am. Most of us would have love to see the Tarn and mountain reflection on such a glorious beautiful day. However an executive decision was made that we should stick to our plan. Well, we will definitely have to come back to see the Tarn again! Having successfully completed our tramp, we had a celebration lunch at the Thai House Restaurant, which certainly cheered us up after the disappointment of not seeing the Pouakai Circuit Reflective Tarn.