We did it!

On the Saturday I climbed up to the summit of Rangitoto Island.

That is the view I get of Rangitoto from my work.

The circled red area is the view of my work from the summit of Rangitoto Island.

It feels so good knowing that I made it to the top. Knowing that I can do it. It is only two kilometres, so it doesn’t seem like that far to climb, but there was a lot of hiking up steep hills the majority of the time and the closer to the top we got the steeper it seemed to get.

Just over half way up one of the two lovely people who were doing the climb with me decided she couldn’t go any further, we persuaded her to keep going. A bit later an older lady walked by us having a quick break and told us not to worry the worst was over. SHE LIED! The worst part was just before getting to the lower viewing platform stairs.

At the lower view platform stair we thought we had made it to the top. We sat down and we composing ourselves when a lovely lady walked past, turned around and said “There is only five more minutes to go, you’re nearly there.”

To which I responded, “We’re not at the top yet?!”

We got to the top and were so glad to be there, and it was worth it. From the top you get a 360 degree view of the Waitemata Harbour. It is a beautiful sight.

At the top we realised that we only had about 100mls of water left between the three of us. It was a moment where we all realised we still had the walk back down to complete and that we were all quite thirsty. A miracle actually happened. Nid noticed three bottles on the far railing and no one around them. Everyone who had been at the top started to leave, then everyone was gone and there were still three bottles of water sitting on this railing. We were desperate and grateful. We tipped the water into our drink bottles and thanked the heavens for our good fortune.

Whilst we were enjoying the view at the top it started to rain. Us three huddled into an old Army shelter, built during World War Two, had a little party and I feel in love with my parka, the type that is made so that it is already in a little bag that then becomes a pocket when “pulled out” and turned in the proper way. It kept me warm and dry, it was perfect.

The walk down the mountain was defiantly a lot easier than the hike up. At one stage I tried to do a little sliding dance move, managed to save myself and then slip again. Half way down there are lava caves, if we had more time it would have been fun to explore them, it would also have been good to have a torch to do so.

We made it to the bottom with about 10 minutes to spare until the last ferry of the day arrived to take us back to Devonport.

I am so glad that I didn’t pull out, it was an awesome day spent with awesome people. I want to be able to do the Tongariro Crossing, an 18.5 kilometre hike. Its on my bucket list and I can’t wait to do it, according to others that have done it, it includes about three hours of stairs.