(Barely) Working Title: How to retire in your twenties
“Aotearoa” is the Māori word for New Zealand. The direct translation is “Land of the long, white cloud”. I’d imagine they must have also considered “Land of the tiny, brown birds” and “Land of the massive, green hills” before settling on that one.
With those hills in mind, we headed over to Te Aroha, to do some hiking. The kiwis call hiking “tramping” so we’ll try to embrace that from here on out.
Te Aroha is a nice town with a self proclaimed “Old-timey” feel. We discovered what this means in emphatic fashion when an air raid siren went off to signal that the fire fighters should head to the station. LOUD NOISES.
Te Aroha summit is just 952 metres high but the mountain itself is very sheer. As we’re completely mad, we decided to climb 700 metres the day before to see Wairere Falls. This “tramp” was well worth the effort and this tramp took some photos.
The next day, we climbed Te Aroha. We amused ourselves in the early stages by trying to get pictures of a very camera-shy fantail that followed us. Beautiful birds but very elusive!
The peak of Te Aroha has a TV tower on it. If ignored, this is one the most beautiful places I’ve seen. You get a dramatic view of the Bay of Plenty from here, as well as a perfect panorama of the rest of the mountain range.
We ran down a good proportion of the mountain on the way home. Concentration is required but we made it unscathed. At the bottom of the mountain is a spa and a swimming pool with showers (people don’t tell you this but a good proportion of free camping life is spent working out where you can wash).
We had dinner at a bar called Austin’s and a cat fell asleep on Jane’s lap. Even the feline locals are friendly!
We stayed in the rugby ground car park then headed to Karangahake Gorge in the morning. It’s beautiful but we couldn’t really walk by this stage so we just did the 1 hour loop. We’ll visit again!
Lewis George
81 chapters
16 Apr 2020
Land of the Long, White Cloud
March 21, 2019
|
Te Aroha
“Aotearoa” is the Māori word for New Zealand. The direct translation is “Land of the long, white cloud”. I’d imagine they must have also considered “Land of the tiny, brown birds” and “Land of the massive, green hills” before settling on that one.
With those hills in mind, we headed over to Te Aroha, to do some hiking. The kiwis call hiking “tramping” so we’ll try to embrace that from here on out.
Te Aroha is a nice town with a self proclaimed “Old-timey” feel. We discovered what this means in emphatic fashion when an air raid siren went off to signal that the fire fighters should head to the station. LOUD NOISES.
Te Aroha summit is just 952 metres high but the mountain itself is very sheer. As we’re completely mad, we decided to climb 700 metres the day before to see Wairere Falls. This “tramp” was well worth the effort and this tramp took some photos.
The next day, we climbed Te Aroha. We amused ourselves in the early stages by trying to get pictures of a very camera-shy fantail that followed us. Beautiful birds but very elusive!
The peak of Te Aroha has a TV tower on it. If ignored, this is one the most beautiful places I’ve seen. You get a dramatic view of the Bay of Plenty from here, as well as a perfect panorama of the rest of the mountain range.
We ran down a good proportion of the mountain on the way home. Concentration is required but we made it unscathed. At the bottom of the mountain is a spa and a swimming pool with showers (people don’t tell you this but a good proportion of free camping life is spent working out where you can wash).
We had dinner at a bar called Austin’s and a cat fell asleep on Jane’s lap. Even the feline locals are friendly!
We stayed in the rugby ground car park then headed to Karangahake Gorge in the morning. It’s beautiful but we couldn’t really walk by this stage so we just did the 1 hour loop. We’ll visit again!
1.
The first trip: Miranda to Thames
2.
Land of the Long, White Cloud
3.
Backyard Exploring
4.
Hit the Road, Jack
5.
Under the Weather
6.
The Road of Death?
7.
An Eel called "Eel"
8.
Descent into the Black Abyss...
9.
Everybody's Going Surfing...
10.
Living in a van: is this the real life?
11.
Out with the Old and in with the New (Plymouth)
12.
Walk this Way
13.
The Great Taranaki
14.
The "Forgotten" Highway
15.
Chronicle + Art = Article
16.
Derby Day
17.
Mission Accomplished: Come on you Nix!
18.
The post-Phoenix hangover
19.
The Tongariro Alpine Crossing
20.
Whanganui 2 - This Time it’s Personal
21.
Tui-many puns and Hastings
22.
The Giant Among Us & Bell Rock
23.
Acoustics, Art & A Bloody Cold Sea
24.
Napier Calling
25.
Bridget Jones' Diary - Cheese, Chocolate, Wine
26.
Land and Sea
27.
Mahia-hee, Mahia-hu...
28.
The Gisborne Identity
29.
East Cape Escape
30.
The Long and Winding Road
31.
More or Less Pork.
32.
The Land of the Rising Sun
33.
Hikurangi: Reaching New Heights
34.
Stingray, Stingray!
35.
Bay of Plenty (of Surprises)
36.
Future Reflections
37.
Birthday Part 1 - Going Off Pissed
38.
Birthday Part 2 - Going En Piste
39.
Mid-Winter Christmas
40.
I Get Knocked Down (But I Get Up Again)
41.
Job Hunting: I Need a Dollar, Dollar
42.
Busy Earnin'
43.
Hoppy Daze
44.
Making a House a Home
45.
What to expect when you’re expecting
46.
Bright Lights, Big City
47.
Feeling Each and Every Mile
48.
What to export when you're exporting
49.
Waipapa Marae: An Unexpected Welcome
50.
Tane of the Sky Father
51.
The Boy Most Likely To
52.
Go Rooster!
53.
Friday 13th
54.
Mild Orange, Heavy Chest
55.
Champions of the World
56.
Wild, Wild West (Auckland)
57.
Team Zlatan Heineken
58.
Great Expectations
59.
Un petit rendezvous
60.
Duck Island (sans canards)
61.
It’s Coming Home?
62.
Culture, init?
63.
Sue’s Turtle Garden
64.
New Caledonia - It’s a Rollercoaster (metaphorically)
65.
It’s gone abroad...
66.
Future Me Hates Me
67.
“You can’t beat Wellington on a sunny day”
68.
Te Papa Tongarewa: New Zealand’s Treasure Chest
69.
Island in the Sun
70.
Wine on Waiheke
71.
I'm Dreaming of a Really Sunny and Warm as Hell Christmas
72.
A Visitor!
73.
New Year, New Zealand
74.
Worm-tomo
75.
A Vicious Cycle
76.
Tongario 2.0: This time it's actually visible
77.
Wow Nature, you furry
78.
Whakarewarewa: Living Māori Vilage
79.
Ain't No Mountain...
80.
Hot Rodders & Hotter Weather
81.
North Shore, Not Sure
Share your travel adventures like this!
Create your own travel blog in one step
Share with friends and family to follow your journey
Easy set up, no technical knowledge needed and unlimited storage!
