Coming 'Round the Mountain

Sunday, February 15, 2009

We had initially wanted to climb Mount Maunganui today, since Mark hasn't done it yet. Ro wasn't in a climbing mood, however, and the thought of getting halfway up The Mount and having to carry him the rest of the way persuaded us to just stick to the loop trail around the base. It was a beautiful walk, about 3.4km, up and down along gently rolling slopes. And apart from a meltdown after stubbing his persistently damaged toe, Ro did pretty well. He took us on a little side trip to some tidepools among the rugged boulders on the northeast side of The Mount, and loved splashing in the water. Fatigue was starting to set in for the little guy near the end of our walk, but as luck would have it, he started running to impress two young Kiwi girls (looked about 4yo and 8yo) who were walking with their family on the path. We finished up our afternoon at the playground near Mount Drury, where we had to park the car earlier in the day because of the weekend crowds.

Sherry & Ro along the coast of Mount Maunganui. Note the sailboats

Sherry & Ro taking in the view from The Mount's loop trail

Ro enjoying a high-tech see-saw

Ro & Sherry enjoying the low-tech version

We tried the "takeaway" joints down the street from our motel tonight; Indian food for Sherry and Ro, and good ol' fish and chips for Mark. Ro wanted to stay up late to watch Alien vs Predator: Requiem since the commercial seemed cool to him, but that was instantly vetoed by Sherry, since she's the one who gets up with him when he has bad dreams.