Walking to the Top of The Mount in Tauranga – Day 316

Today we’re not wasting anytime we are going to climb The Mount.

The first thing to do when arriving in Tauranga is to head to the suburb of Mt Maunganui.

What healthy concoction are you eating?

It’s a sausage roll fresh from The Dairy.

No wander you’re huffing and puffing your way through New Zealand right here.

It’s not a very healthy snack.

The most famous part of Mt Maunganui is something called The Mount which is a large extinct volcano known in Maori as the Mauao or it’s probably not known as that cos I have no idea how to pronounce it.

Out mission today is to walk to the summit of Mt Maunganui which sits at 232m above sea level and is meant to have some amazing views and along they way, even before we get to the official tracks we are totally side tracked by some amazing wildlife look at these little birds they’re so cute.

However, once we hit the steep uphills we realise that maybe doing the Timber Trail and the Tongariro Crossing back to back is really taking a toll on our legs.

So the first steps are always the easiest one and then it becomes a BATCH after 10. My legs feel heavier now than they were on the Tongariro Crossing.

Mine too, I need a rest. Why are we doing this?

Are you already struggling, Laura?

Yes.

After three steps?

My legs are still knackered from doing the Timber Trail yesterday.

Laura is kind of BATCHING a lot right now. I think Tongariro Alpine Crossing, Timber Trail all in a row are taking a bit of a toll on her.

But the good thing about climbing The Mount is that it’s a very rewarding walk after only a few metres we already get an amazing view.

Look at that view behind me after only a few minutes walk.

It’s quite grandeous.

The next section of the walk is quite flat we are making our way through pastures there are actually some sheep around The Mount and there is also a ton of birds which are grazing in the grass. Yes, that’s right there is a ton of birds actually in the grass eating nonsense.

The walk going up The Mount is actually circumventing the whole volcano making sure that we get a 360 views on the entire surrounding we don’t even need to get up to the top to already get some awesome views. Which is an amazing feet for such a short walk.

After about 5 minutes walking we encounter a big sign which gives us multiple options we can do the advanced track which is gonna be quite steep but get us to the top quite quickly or we can take it slowly and do the moderate one.

Let’s do the moderate.

The steep track is called the Waikorire which is taking us through really steep staircase and the non steep one which is actually the moderate one, the one we’re doing right now is called the Oruahinewhich circumvents the whole mount giving us 360 degree views all around and as you can see it’s a pretty mellow walk.

On this mellow walk carved on the cliff on the side of this extinct volcano we get amazing views of the western Bay of Plenty and we get amazing views of Matakana Island but you know Laura she takes some pictures of birds.

Or maybe I’m looking for any excuse to rest my legs at this point anyway the little fantail is so cute and named because they have this huge fan on their back but in Maori they’re known as the piwakwaka which I much prefer.

The next part of the track is where the track turns into forest which is much needed cos it’s getting super warm under that sun and then it sort of joins onto a 4×4 track.

It seems like The Mount is the popular spot to be if you are a local there are so many people running up and down this mountain and after speaking to a few locals they say the best time to do this walk is at sunrise and the Maori name Mauao, again trying to pronounce that and probably doing a horrible job which means “Caught by the dawn” in Maori so that has to mean it’s amazing at sunrise right?

Arriving at the top of The Mount gives us absolutely amazing views I can’t emphasise enough what we get to see up there. We can see Tauranga which is like this urban jungle and we can also see Mt Maunganui which is this suburb it’s a bit more of a peninsula beach with two beaches either side.

And from the top we even see a group of people learning SUP that’s stand up paddle boarding and we will be doing this activity a little bit later on during our stay right here in Tauranga but we have plenty of things to do and first we need to rest because we are pretty exhausted after all those epic activities lately so we are making our way down to make our way to Pacific Coast Lodge which is our hostel at the moment for our stay it’s an awesome working hostel and we will take the time to tell you more about this place a little bit later on in the meantime see you tomorrow.

Stop looking away. Stop looking down look at me.

You’re so needy. Did you hear that guys did you hear how needy she is? Look at me.

It’s recording.

For how long?

While I’ve been shouting at you.