The sunrise while hiking up Mt Maunganui made the early start to the weekend worthwhile.
It was my first weekend exploring New Zealand’s beautiful landscape in the Bay of Plenty, a peninsula north of Tauranga.
The drive to “The Mount” with my partner was almost three hours from Auckland and took us through karangahake gorge, a sharply winding canyon.
Once arrived at “The Mount” it was too dark to see much so we settled in our cute beach-side motel and left the exploring for the morning.
The six am wake up on Saturday wasn’t something typically on my ‘to do’ list, but the ocean breeze had me feeling refreshed, with memories of waking up in my old home of Port Melbourne beach. I was ready to take on new heights.
As the sun rose so did the ocean, and the mountainous landscape overlooked the surf beach. It was postcard perfect.
The hike to the top only took about 30 minutes but we went up the steeper side which got our hearts pumping.
After the hike we treated ourselves to a big breakfast before checking out the surf shops. Here, I got lucky. A small backpackers was advertising surf boards on a mini rack out the front of their charming shop.
TODAY ONLY $299 was the label on the 5″7 surf board which had my name on it I snapped it up instantly. The owner literally gave it a kiss before handing it to me, and told me to “look after it”.
Soon after we put it in the car boot, packed out bags and were on our way to Lake Taupo for the nights adventures.
During the drive to Taupo, we went through the geothermal active city of Rotorua, a city fueled with geysers and thermal mud pools. The rich activity means it stinks like rotten eggs, or sulfur. Spending too much time there may put some people in a stink, but it made for an interesting drive.
One adventure down, many more to go…
