952 meters straight up!

Well today was a great day, starting off with a trial run/first fit of the kayak loader and it went well. They carefully checked everything and it all fitted. It’s a lot shorter than I thought it would be.

 

Then I decided that I would do a wander up the ‘hill’ to the top of Mt Te Aroha and see the transmission tower close up.

Once the fitting was complete and I had got things ready, I left the domain at 11.15.

Well the track was bloody tough! We missed the Bald Spur lookout by about 7 minutes the other day! What a view from there. 

Then it was slog, slog, up and up and up, from there to the summit. It was stairs, climbs up roots and rocks and climbs and stairs. It was one heck of a climb.

I arrived at the summit at 1:30 and took some pictures

and headed off down the TV road for a while…. a long while and it was downhill ALL the way. And very steep in places and it went on…. 

Eventually I found the Tui Link track that headed back towards the starting point. Came across the Mayflower mine and had a look in, wish I had brought a torch.

On the way through the Tui Track I cam across a very strange occurrence, A grove with a whole stack of stone cairns...spooky

 There were also a number of creeks and crossings

Arrived back at the domain at 4pm after 17km walking, exhausted but proud of getting there and back!

Showered, did some washing as my walking clothes stank! And am now sitting writing this and sipping on a glass of vino, with my feet up.

Te Aroha is an amazing area, with lots of stuff to do. Some great shops and businesses and the thermal pools, some awesome walks and bike rides, road, rail trail and mountain bike.  You could happily spend a week here doing all the great things.

BTW the pile of dirt next to our overnight spot is a BMX track in the making. They are trying to get some basic jumps ready for the holidays.

I’m heading back to Cullen Engineering at 8am tomorrow for the final fitting!

Pasta, bacon and salad for dinner!