Mount Maunganui, Tauranga, North Island, New Zealand

15th November – 16th November 2017

Once we were collected from the hostel in Whitianga, we had two different journeys to make, to get to our next stop. Each journey was only about an hour and a half and we changed over in Thames again. The driver of the second bus was running late but it didn’t affect us too much, we just arrived in Mount Maunganui later than planned. The journeys seemed to go quite quick because I slept pretty much the whole way.

At around 12pm, we arrived at the bus stop in Mount Maunganui. When we got there, we looked up where our hostel was and were gutted to find out it was a twenty-five minute walk away – that’s what happens when I leave Joe in charge of hostel bookings. There was nothing we could do at that point though, so we just set off in the right direction with all of our bags, and hoped for the best. Although it felt like forever because we had all of our stuff, luckily, it didn’t take us twenty-five minutes and we were there within about fifteen.

We checked in and were staying at a fancy guesthouse, not a hostel for a change (so I’ll give Joe a little credit for that). When the woman was showing us around, she kept telling us that it was just like any other backpackers; all that we could think was that it was nothing like some of the backpackers we have seen so far. Once we were checked in, we ate our lunch, before heading out into the town – we had to make the most of our time, as we were only staying for one night.

We walked up through the town, looking in a few shops along the way, until we got to the foot of the mountain. It wasn’t far from the place that we were staying, which seemed quite strange for me that the town was literally at the base of the mountain.

Before we started our hike, we popped into the information centre at the bottom to get a map. The man behind the desk recommend the route that he thought was the best. As we were walking out of the information centre, the woman he was working with told us that he had recommended the hardest route – we still thought we would give it a try though.

We set off on our hike, which was tough because it was so steep, but it was a good climb with amazing views. My legs were so sore from the walking and cycling on the previous days, but I was not giving up. The sun had come out by this point, making it a lot hotter and therefore much harder, but we kept on going and made it to the top in twenty minutes (even though the signs said that it would take us an hour).

At the top, we both just sat down and tried to cool off a little. The climb was definitely worth it because the views all around were amazing, but we were so tired. We stopped up there for about twenty minutes and took some photos and had a little wander round, before starting back down the mountain.

When we got to the bottom, we hunted out an ice cream shop and sat on the beach, at the foot of the mountain. We stayed there for a while, as my legs did not want to move anymore.

We finally got moving again and started to head back towards where we were staying, via a supermarket. When we got back, we had a chill out for a little bit and rested our legs, before it was time for dinner.

For dinner, we made fajitas and nachos; however, we made that much, we had loads leftover, that we ended up packing up for the next day.

After we had eaten and cleared up, we went back to the room to chill out and get packed up and ready for moving again the next day.

I woke up quite early in the morning, as I wanted to shower and wash my hair before we left, and I had left it too late the night before. After my shower, we packed up and got ready to check out and begin the mammoth walk back to the bus stop.

As Joe sunburnt his shoulders, he thought it would be a good idea for him to carry the two big bags by the handles, so they didn’t touch his shoulders, and then I would carry the rest. I tried to tell him that it wouldn’t work because the bags were too heavy, but he insisted and made it to the end of the road before giving up and swapping back!

I wish that we could have stayed another night in Mount Maunganui, as it was such a beautiful place, but we wouldn’t have enough time to see everything else if we did, so it’s time to move on. The place that we stayed was lovely and has set high expectations for future hostels! The mountain was hard work, but definitely worth it and I think we made the most out of the little time we had there. Now it’s time for another bus, as we head towards Rotorua.

To travel is to live, Katie x