To the Pinnacles (and back again) another great outing.

Well before I post any more pics of models on this blog I shall show to you my most recent tramping adventure I did with two of my friends. this walk took 3 days instead of the previous 2 and has some very nice pictures... anyway onto the adventure.

the three adventurers. from left to right Me, Miles and Trent

OH and By the way this post contains around (I may have deleted some I thought were duplicates) 60 photos...

Day one: 11th of December

well we set off at around 1 pm. this days tramp was predicted to be about 3 hours long.

to start out the track looked like this, nice and easy and very pretty.

then we got to the old road built into these hills for the Kauri loggers. here's Trent up ahead of me.

that overhand covers the path to a swing bridge... which is used when the river crossing is impassible due to floods

a break for afternoon tea after climbing more steps than in the escape rout of a skyscraper.... no wonder the preferred group name of people going to the hut is #Hatestairs.... seriously though there were loads of steps.

looking up the side of the valley.

a cool rocky outcrop the Coromandel is full of these sometimes weird and wonderful formations

looking of into the distance... photo bombing done by Trent :-P

this is the old path/road cut into the hills really nice... much better than some of the paths around town.

a little stream which clearly becomes nasty during floods

another outcrop a volcanic plug I assume.

Oh yes and that is table top mountain the same as from the previous hike but from a different angle.

getting close to the hut... hut is not really the right word as it is not a small structure at wall (bigger than many houses in fact)

and the last picture of day one taken just before we got to the hut.

we got to the hut an hour early and after meeting a few people including a guy from school we settled down for the night.

Day 2:

Day two was a day of very little adventures in the morning we all went up the Pinnacles without our bags... as it is only a 50 min climb... spent the rest of the day relaxing and chatting to other people from all storts of countries. Germany, Belgium, France, Singapore and Sweeden to name a few. Trent and I went up with a group in the evening to watch the sunset but Miles was to tired and went to bed early... here are the pics of the day.

early morning mist runs over the pinnacles but clears quickly although it leaves the air nice and fresh perfect for a climb

very pretty place and in the morning light it is even better.

it's strange to think that nearlly all this is re-growth... these slops were heavily deforisted in the 19th and 20th centuries.

our goal

our goal again.

we start our climb and look back at table top mountain. a new angle but still impressive,

Trent and Miles up ahead. we only took our water bottles on this climb as we didn't need anything else... well I did bring the Camera and the Binoculars.

Table top mountain again but from a higher angle thanks to thousands of steps the path increases in altitude quite rapidly.

as we get higher the surrounding area is revealed to us.

a look back at the hut. so far away now... and it hadn't taken us that long to get this far.

zoomed in again but another look at table top mountain or flat head as Stephanie (Mile's mother) called it.

a look down a valley... breath taking but it's a shame you can't get an impression of depth this is really cool in 3D.

not at the top yet. at over 750m the pinnacles give you a great view of the surrounding landscape

At the top? not sure... next photo I am more sure.

the view from the top.

there is a sign saying don't go here. but the lady who took our picture and climbed the pinnacles 7 times said we should go and check it out.

cool eh?

Mayor island in the distance.

some pretty little flowers growing amoungst the rocks

these rocks are not barren at all, they are practically covered in life.

table top mountain in the distance as well as other hills that make up these ranges

looking south east (roughly)

these are not the teeth of some ancient monster although this is middle earth so maybe.

a cool rock... what do you see? I see some stone giant pulling the finger. anyway this was taken once we decided to go back down.

one of the old Kauri dams. we took at look at once we came down and soon got bored.

an arty farty shot. :-P

miles walking along the stream

anyway we decided to follow the little stream by the Kauri dam... this isn't a trail but it was easy to follow.

this was taken very carefully as the water would kill my camera

a mini waterfall.

anyway after a restful day and dinner which we shared with a French man as our pasta dish was more than enough Trent and I went up with a group of 2 German boys and 2 girld from Duneidin and went to the top of the Pinnacles again to see this!!!

Certainly something I recommend you all see.

one more for luck!

DAY 3:

Day 3 was a long way... hours of walking as we took another route out heading east. We were going to Rangihau road where we got picked up by Mile's mother and taken to their batch (holiday home to non kiwi speaking peoples) in Tairua. in Tairua we could relax and do all the kayaking, swimming, sea biscuiting and set skiing we wanted but first we needed to walk! and this time the trail was not nicely pathed by loggers.

this morning was really misty! this mist did no lift until around 10-11am.

the sign at the point where the path from the hut meets the trail... interestingly another sign gave us the impression that the time to the Rangihau Road end (the route we were taking) would take 7 hours!

tree's in the mist

clambering up hill and down dale through swamp and over rivers we went.

at the top of the hill shown in the previous photo this shot was taken... electric cabels dissapearing into the mist.

OH and this is the track... well one of the nice bits. other times it was just waterlogged mud that would swallow your boot, leg and in some places you up to your waist.

after tramping through the undergrowth on a narrow trail we came to an area where all the trees had died. how??? No idea but from now on the track was designed so that a 4x4 could pass so the walk got easier.

we came to a stream and filled our water bottels. a look up stream and all the tree's are dead.

BUT downstream is this.... all I did was turn around. this is the same place.

After 5 hours of walking we came to the end of the trail and found this! this guys gate is right next to the gate (off camera to the left) at the end of the track

cool sign.

After 5 hours we made it to the end of the trail. really happy and well ahead of scheduel we had a bit of a walk yet to the pick up point further down the road. we must have got to the end of the trail just after 11 as we reached the pick up point just before 12 an hour early.

anyway we had to walk for another hour to get to the pick up point. this is the river by which we rested and waited.

after getting picked up we spent the next couple of days in Tairua going home on the 15th. unfortunatetly I didn't take any photo's because we had an awesome time. it was my first time going sea buiscuting, pulled by a jet-ski... and I didn't fall out. great time saw some amazing marine life, such as a huge sing ray. it was great. but I imagine that you've read enough now so I'll leave it here.

for Christmas I shall return to Tairua so perhaps I can bring some pics back from then. BUT UNTIL THEN UNLESS I DO ANOTHER POST I WISH YOU ALL A VERY HAPPY, HEALTHY AND JOYFULL....

MERRY CHRISTMAS