And i didn't go

Went for a walk up Mt Pirongia instead! Took track 8 from here http://www.mtpirongia.org.nz/NewFiles/map.html and set off not really knowing what to expect. Arrived at the start point and the sign said it would be a 2-3 hour walk up to the Wharauroa Lookout. Me and the girlfriend set off across some farmers paddocks and after about 10 minutes of walking up hill we arrive at the bush already huffing and puffing.

Into the bush we head and we start our climb up. It started off fairly easy but soon got steeper. And stayed that way. For what felt like hours we soldiered on upwards not a word being said and only stopping to tie shoes and have a quick drink of water. Muscles were burning but it didn't slow us. Near the top it is more like rock climbing than anything and as the girlie is a short ass she was finding it a bit difficult to navigate up easily. Arriving at the top we are greeted by a sign saying the summit is another 2-3 hours away. We think about it for a second but decide to do it another day. The top was nothing that special actually! Maybe 3 square metres of space and a view blocked by trees.

Then we see a rocky outcrop down a trail. This was more like it! Fantastic view over the waikato.

We stayed up top no more than half an hour before we headed back down. We were pretty much running down and it must have taken us no more than 45 minutes. In fact when we got back down to the car we realised it only took 2 hours to get up look around and get back down.

Was an awesome day and next time we plan to head to the summit.

Thanks to a program called autostich i was able to create those panoramics I didn't even take the photos with the intention of making them panoramics but they came out awesome!

Will put up some more photos when they came off the camera (taking awhile )