And then there were three, again

ROB TUCKER

Mother Nature has produced a new sister from the cliff face at Tongaporutu to ensure the future of the Three Sisters tourist attraction.

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Taranaki's famous rock formation on the Tongaporutu coast is back to three sisters.

Erosion reduced the popular tourist feature to two about five years ago.

But those same forces of nature have lead to a new massive sandstone outcrop emerging from the cliff face which is about 16km south of Mokau.

However local helicopter pilot Matt Newton, who has operated Precision Helicopter Ltd flights around Taranaki since 1994, says it will take one or two more storms for the new sister to become independent of the mainland.

This week, he flew geophysicist Mick Small around the spot where the new sister is linked to the mainland by a thin strip of rock that is being constantly battered by the sea.

Mr Small works for RPS Energy and moved to Moscow for work last year after surveying Taranaki for 10 years.

"A new sister has been born, but I don't think one of the other sisters will last very long," Mr Small said during the flight over the site on Sunday.

The sea was about to split that existing sister in two.

The natural process has gone on for thousands of years and will continue to do so, he says.

It is one of the normal processes of erosion and deposition that started well before humans.

Sometimes people get surprised by the speed that this happens.

The moral of the story is, don't build a house on top of a cliff.

By watching the power of the ocean hitting mainland Tongaporutu it is easy to see the current and waves cutting away at rock, Mr Small says.

He agrees with Mr Newton, who said: "There are going to be generations of sisters to come, so don't panic."