Taranaki

Taranaki is an inactive volcano, and forms the centre of the Taranaki region. Englishman Captain James Cook named it Mount Egmont, after John Perceval, 2nd Earl of Egmont, who as First Lord of the Admiralty had supported an oceanic search for Terra Australis Incognita. As a young person, I knew it as Mount Egmont, and in recent years its original name has become the more used name of the dual names officially recognised.

Taranaki is geologically young, having commenced activity about 135,000 years ago. The most recent activity was in the 1850s or 1860s, when a lava dome developed in the crater, and then collapsed down the side of the mountain. The last major eruption was about 1655.

It is the dominant feature south east from New Plymouth and was seen this morning on a quick run before sunrise. I went to the top of Churchill Heights in a park not far from where I'm staying, and got this photo hand held. I have done nothing to the photograph after loading it from camera onto MacBook. 

Back in Auckland tonight, so that I can collect S and the car and drive back to New Plymouth on Sunday.