Ain't No Mountain High Enough

Sunday, March 8, 2009

After a hearty breakfast of steak & eggs, we set about climbing Mount Maunganui. Sherry & Ro had done it before, but this was Mark's first time. Ro was sandbagging a little at first, but he soon found his second wind as we lured him on with small dispensations of candy and snacks, taking frequent breaks. The steeper and more dangerous the trail, the more he seems to like it, and he'll bound up the rocks like a jackrabbit. But give him a wide, paved, leisurely path and he shuffles along at a snail's pace.

Ro & Sherry starting out on our climb

Spotting a praying mantis along the way

Ro always finds a way to make things more diffic...uh, fun

At the top, while we enjoyed the view, Ro entertained himself by digging in the dirt, climbing trees, and scaling the scaffolding around the geological survey marker. The kid is unreal, still not tired of climbing after scaling a 232m peak. Mark equates the effort of climbing it to roughly that of climbing Mt Pisgah (for you North Carolinians). There are a couple of different trails you can take up The Mount, and we hiked up the steeper (and shorter) one, then went down the longer one that Sherry and Ro had climbed the first time. The longer, less steep trail, is actually a gravel track that can be accessed by emergency vehicles (4wd only, of course).

Mark on top of Mount Maunganui

Ro climbing the geologic marker as storm clouds roll by. Probably not a great idea in hindsight

Ro showing off the interesting piece of dirt he dug up. Note how close Pilot Bay is to the Pacific Ocean

Sherry on top of The Mount. Our apartment building is in the (slightly blurry) background

Ro & Sherry chillin' out

Everybody say cheese!

When we got home, Sherry went grocery shopping; since Ro had been such a trooper, Mark took him down the street to get some ice cream and watch the Maori kids diving into Pilot Bay from the pier. Dinner was a tasty "made up" creation consisting of local beef sausage, wild rice, bell peppers, tomatoes, onions, garlic, and, of course, plenty of kumara - even Ro asked for seconds!

Ro making short work of his vanilla cone