This video chronicles the last few years of my trips to Taranaki and for reasons outlined below represents my last trip down to a place I know as well as my hometown.

Background
Back in the early 1970's my best friend Jims family moved from Wellington to Taranaki and he moved in with my family for a short time, I think he was 19.
Ever since I have been traveling to Taranaki and specifically Inglewood initially from Wellington and for many years from Auckland.
Jim was killed tragically in a motor vehicle crash in 2008 age 53 (he had moved to Brisbane Australia in the 1980s), his Dad died of a broken heart and natural causes in 2013 and his mum unexpectedly in April 2024 in her 92nd year.
They had lived in the same house for 50 years and it always felt like home to me being their son’s best mate and their "adopted" fourth son. I certainly thought of them both as my "foster" parents and especially lucky to have them as "significant other adults". They had a joke in their family that I had come around to their house to play after school one day in 1967 and never really left .

Back in the day Jim and I documented our time in Taranaki on 35mm film and 8mm movies, motorbikes, Mini's and girlfriends, I'm sure you get the picture.
Jim being the extrvert was always the one willing to get in front of the lens, one day I'll get around to having those 8mm movies digitised.

As a place to visit Taranaki has much to offer hopefully for those unfamiliar this will give a taste.


#taranaki