. Tongaporutu .

Just an hour from the centre of New Plymouth is one of the country's — possibly even the world's — most rapidly-eroding pieces of coast.

The one guarantee is that it will be spectacular. What you see, though? That's more of an unknown.

For a start, the Three Sisters, originally Four, are now Two: spiky islets standing free of the crumbling sandstone cliff. And the locally-famous Elephant Rock, which to be brutally frank always looked more like an ant eater, has lost its trunk to become an archway island: but it's still striking, still well worth seeing.

The Tasman Sea is continuously busy, sculpting and shaping, and no-one can predict what will be next to emerge from the soft rock of these layered cliffs. There are caves, tunnels, arches both single and double, sea stacks and, to the north of the river, Moeraki boulder-type spheres on the beach.

History

"The Tonga-porutu river is seven miles from Puke-aruhe. Here, on the south bank stands Pa-tangata,* the great island pa of Taringa-kuri, and said to have been the scene of the treacherous murder of Rangi-hapainga, a Ngati-Maniapoto chieftainess of high rank; which was afterwards fully avenged at the taking of Tihi-manuka.

Statistics

Tongaporutu is a settlement in northern Taranaki, It is located on State Highway 3 at the mouth of the Tongaporutu River, 15 kilometres south of Mokau

Population

There are only a few full time residents living in Tongaporutu, but come summertime all the baches full up and campers come for the warm summer weather.

Weather

Average temperature 13°C
Average rainfall 1570mm

elephant rock

Elephant Rock


Elephant Rock and the Three Sisters are one of Taranaki’s best-known landmarks, and good for a photo opportunity. They are the result of the constant erosion powers of the sea. You can walk around the point from the beach at low tide to see all these rock formations.