After Taupō, we went up to Auckland to pick up our Certified-Self-Contained documentation and get some mail. However, we found out that our mail still wasn’t even in the country. After some calls, we found out that we could have our poste restante mail redirected, which gave us the freedom to head to the South Island. We had a few days to spend still until the ferry departure. Not having read much about the area yet, we weren’t sure where to go, but remembering some postcards of lovely hot-spring beaches, I thought perhaps the Coromandel Peninsula would be a good choice, so we went that direction. Upon arriving and researching some more, we found out that this is where Auckland goes for the holidays and was, thus, the busy season. So, the plan was to do one long hike there and then head somewhere else, which we (I) decided would be Hobbiton!
The walk we decided on was to the Pinnacles. While it seemed like it would be a fine day on the coast, driving just a kilometer or five inland to the mountains increased the cloud cover significantly. It was still dry, though, so we started off. Near the beginning was a max-1-person suspension bridge.
I love these things! They are so bouncy! Jonathan always warns me not to break them.
There was evidence of previous floods and landslides. Apparently these mountains can be quite treacherous in heavy rain.
They apparently have carnivorous flowers here too!
However, the farther along the track and the more into the mountains we got, the more rainy it started to get. By the time we got to the top, you could barely see anything!
The last bit was a bit of a scramble and quite fun, even in the rain.
While still quite impressive, I think we will have to come back when it is sunny.
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