Just west of town is Paritutu, a steep-sided, craggy hill (154m) whose name translates as ‘Rising Precipice’. 'Precipice' is right – it's a seriously knee-trembling, 20-minute scramble to the top, the upper reaches over bare rock with a chain to grip on to. If you can ignore your inner screams of common sense and make it to the top, from the summit you can see for miles around: out to the Sugar Loaves, down across the town and out to Mt Taranaki beyond.
