Day 15 Mokoroa

Today opened with a really difficult and incredibly unrewarding walk. I set off up to Mokoroa Bush Scenic Reserve to give the Nga Tapuwae o Toi Track a whirl, oh my gosh, after 20 minutes I was seriously regretting it. It’s a ridiculously steep climb to get out of the Mokoroa Gorge and the dense native foliage on all sides so you’re not rewarded by any views.

 

I knew it was a bad sign when I saw this bench. Benches are usually reserved on the walks for the really beautifuly sights. Not that it wasn’t a pretty view, but I was expecting more after a thigh-burning climb. 

What goes up, must come down… and the path down was definitely not fun. I think I might need to go and get my heart checked the amount of heart-attacks I had on my way down!

 I actually got prettier walks when I took a detour back towards Whakatane centre…

 

 Beautiful staircase!

Once I got back into the centre I wandered around a little before heading up these beautiful stairs up to ‘Seaview rd’.

NZ safety!

From here I just did a quick walk up to a look out. The view up here was so beautiful, I definitely dawdled taking in the view.

White Island in the background!

Then I ran up to another. I say ran, I did actually run up most of this path because a, it was so steep some sections you just had to run up, and b, it started raining.

Ankle update – it didn’t like coming down all those stairs again, but other than that it’s all hunky dory!