An Ominous Day of Hiking!

For my three day weekend (Queen’s Birthday) I noticed there was going to be one sunny day in the mix, so I decided to take advantage of it with some hard core, aggressive hiking. I found a few hikes nearby on the Department of Conservation website and thought; I better not pass up this rare opportunity to hike in the sunshine! Well when my workmates got word of my weekend plans, they were less than thrilled and I was reduced to be treated like a child not allowed to cross the street. To end the ridiculing, Alana stepped up and volunteered to be my babysitter for the day. I made sure to set her straight that there was going to be some full on hiking go on and we would need water, power bars, and sunglasses if we hoped to survive this trek. $86 in gas later (I drive a Camry) we were on our way to our treacherous adventure armed only with gumboots (just me), Doritos, Cookies, and candy. Two and a half hours later we arrived at our first big excursion and it was exhausting. Our first stop was Waitanguru Falls and it was lovely! After that we hydrated and in took calories for our next big climb. We were a little sketchy about the directions and about the point that Alana started getting worried that I was taking her to a remote location to leave her; we arrived at the Mangapohue Natural Bridge, at least the start of the trek. It is a 55 foot high limestone arch, which spans the Mangapohue stream, and it is all that remains of an ancient cave system. It was amazing, I had no idea that something like that even existed. More shocking, is the fact that Alana was born, raised, and living in a town 45 minutes away and she had never been there. I tried not to make a big deal about it, but I would be a little embarrassed! Another gorgeous trip and we will see if Alana is brave enough to handle another road trip. I should also point out that both hikes were actually quite short. The hike to the falls was .2 km and took us about 3 minutes; the hike to the natural bridge was maybe five minutes. Unfortunately the hiking was not as brutal as I expected but Alana was sure relieved!

The lolipops were to replenish the calories we lost!

Two rocks painted as dice, I was confused initially!

Oh, a little wildlife!

The underside of the bridge.

I really wanted to walk on top, Alana reassured me that it probably wasn't safe!