Mt Manaia, Whangarei Heads, New Zealand

I didn't get to travel about as much this year in New Zealand as I was busy with family matters.  Fortunately though I did get to spend a couple of days with my friend in Whangarei and we did two big walks which were great fun, although  they wore my legs out!

We walked up Mt Manaia on Thursday 16th March.  The walk took us about three hours return and there were approximately 1067 steps to climb up during the course of the walk!  Mount Manaia is 403 metres above sea level and it is a steady climb all the way up with the views getting more spectacular the higher you get.  

The view of the Mount from the car park.

Yes we really are going to climb all the way up to the top!

The beginning of the walk is well sign posted.

Some sculptures.

It took us longer than the 2 hour return as we spent a bit of time at the top and also stopped for something to eat.

Very important to clean our shoes and boots before we start to protect the Kauri trees.

Wonderful native bush.

A few steps....these ones weren't too steep.

Starting to see the wonderful views.

Gorgeous blue sea.

Some fungi on the tree.

Getting higher.

Peeping through 

Spectacular.  We are almost at the top now.

The  last few steps to climb.

Nearly there...

At the top!  The views were incredible.  You could see the Marsden Point Oil Refinery, Bream Bay and Hauriki Gulf to the South, Whangarei Harbour to the west and to the north the Poor Knights Islands and Northland Coast. 

Lovely clear skies where you can see for miles.

It was so peaceful up here.

Some more views from the top:

Fungi spotted on the way down.

It was nice and cool in the bush, and the trees provided much needed shelter from the heat of the day.

Eventually we got back down - it was much easier coming down than going up!

Pretty flowers.

Yes we really did go right up there!  A thoroughly enjoyable time even if it was exhausting!

Books Read While Away

I was able to get quite a bit of reading done while in New Zealand.  I read three books I had downloaded onto my Kindle - one of them partly on the plane on the way over.  The rest of the books were from my Dad's library and I tried to read a mixture of genres and enjoyed most of them.

Kindle book (image from Google)

Kindle Book (image from Google)

Not books to read if you like 'happy' endings, but I still enjoyed both these Ted Allbeury books and it was the first time I had read any written by him.

This was a little strange, but interesting.  Written by a New Zealander who had first hand experience of what it was like during the Second World War.

Relatively short and easy to read, a little different again.

Kindle book (Google image) 

I am quite enjoying these books, easy paced, different from the series but worth reading in my opinion unless you are expecting the same as the television version.

I enjoyed this more than I thought I would, although it did take me a little while to get into it.  Was amazing to read about the drive of the young boys who grew up to establish such a name for themselves with such enthusiasm and belief in what they were doing.

Loved this book!  About the life of a Dunnock and the other animals in the valley.

This was a bit weird - not as good as his other books and it jumped around a bit too much for my liking.  I ended up skimming over sections of it.