Climbing, climbing and erm....... climbing !

We walked to the supermarket for some stuff for breakfast when we awoke. After some cereal and a brew we were ready for the climb.

We met with Brett and he drove us to the bottom of the Mount. We were told to use the 4WD track on the way up, so we found the start of that and started our climb. It wasn’t too bad to start with and we were taking in the views on the way. It soon started to get steeper and we were all huffing and puffing away. We were soon overlooking Matakana Island, which you can only access via the ferry. Apparently there’s a strong Maori presence on the island. The beach on the island was gorgeous and just disappeared into the distance.

We continued up and after about 45 minutes, we reached the top! The views were amazing. It was the perfect weather, the sun was shining and you could see for miles. We could see the Mount Maunganui Beach on the other side of the Mount, so we started our descent.

This time taking the easy walk around the Mount. It wasn’t as steep and soon we were walking along the sand. It wasn’t the nicest of sand but it was still a lovely beach. We could see all the surfers bobbing around, waiting for the big wave.

We walked out along a grass walkway onto Moturiki Island. It was surrounded by rocks, which the waves came crashing into. We sat at the end just taking it all in, before heading to a cafe for some lunch. We found a nice cafe and all ate our food before packing our bags for the hot saltwater pools.

After paying 9 bucks each we changed and all met before soaking on the many hot water pools. Seriously it was hotter than a bath, it was all saltwater and really relaxing. We tried the many different pools and after nearly 2 hours of red hot Jacuzzi’s we were ready for our next challenge ....... the Papamoa Hills!!

We weren’t satisfied with climbing the 232 metres in the morning so we decided to climb the 227 metres to the summit.

It was again a steep climb but this time through beautiful forest, the trees were huge! We were climbing around the hill so the views were different as we climbed. After 44 minutes we go to the top, it was definitely worth the climb. We could see the Mount and the other islands in the sea. We nearly didn’t get to the top, me and Brett were happy with getting to the picnic bench but as we were about to ‘forge’ a photo..... motivation man (Ben) arrived and pushed us to the top! A quick photo was had before me and Brett started off back down, Ben trying to be funny jumped out on us and I thought I’d shit myself ..... not funny we could have rolled off down the edge and I would have had dirty pants!! After a quick 20 minutes walk down we arrived safe at the car. As you can imagine we were knackered by now!

It was a quick stop at New World for some pizzas before arriving back at the hostel for the evening. Our last night in the hostel before checking into the hotel in Auckland tomorrow. 2 nights in the hotel before picking up the awesome camper. Only 4 sleeps til the olds get here now ...... whoop whoop!!