It was a sunny and beautiful day for our ride from Taupo to Mount Muanganui. A band we hoped to see in La De Da that had canceled their festival appearance, was going to be playing a show so we were going to catch them there. We went straight to the venue, Papamoa Beach Tavern, and were very early. As they were setting up and doing sound checks, we grabbed some beers and learned that there was a rugby tournament and a monster truck show also in town that day. Thus, all of the lodging was booked up so we left to search for a place to stay and luckily snagged the last beds in a dumpy backpackers hostel on the outskirts of town. We got settled in and then returned to enjoy the concert. Afterwards, as we were riding home along an industrial corridor we heard more music. We thought it might be some afterparty being held in a warehouse for one of the events in town and we went to check it out. After walking down a dark alley we found the source which was just a band rehearsing. They invited us in to hang out as they jammed.
January 5th was perhaps the most fun packed day of the trip. Mount Maunganui is a tall (761ft) conical, adventure mountain that sits on its own peninsula on the north end of town. On the trip we climbed on some rocks on the beach of Moturiki Island before walking up to the base of the hill. There were, of course, some sheep grazing in a pasture below where the trail begins it’s rapid ascent. The views were surreal since this mountain rises from the sea level and has nothing else nearly this elevated for miles around. We could see the pristine ocean water, boats sailing around, beach-goers relaxing in the sand looking like ants, freighters pulling into ports, and blue skies. We took a lot of photos and chilled at the summit for quite awhile just soaking it all in.
Sheep or rocks?
Sam climbed a thing.
Kevin climbed a higher thing.
We heard there was some cliff jumping back down at the bottom so we eventually decided to return to the sea. We didn’t want to backtrack so we found a trail that said it “was strenuous” and for “experienced hikes only” which sounded like a winner. Even though it was roped off and had a trail closed sign we went anyway. After some crazy stairs, sometimes with a three foot step, we hit a massive landslide. This was why it was closed, because part of it was gone! We scrambled around the debris and found some remnants of wooden steps which led us back to the trail on the other side. It continued to wrap around the base of the mountain and we soon found a rock formation called paradise island. An old Kiwi friend from college recommended making the short swim out there for some pretty sweet cliff jumping. So we did.
MOVIE
This alternate trail to the base seemed abandoned.
Yup, when we finally arrived at the bottom we learned it was closed.
The reason the trail was closed, a landslide washed out a big section. It was difficult finding the trail on the other side.
Kevin getting ready to swim over to the jumping rocks on the North side of the mountain.
Sam flying high.
We were becoming rather hungry and felt we took advantage of all of the adventures that Mount Muanganui had to offer so we returned to town to find some food. The closest restaurant was a seafood joint that was absolutely delicious. We had mussels and fish that were caught from the beach and ocean just down the street. It was a great end to the activities of the day. We three returned to the hostel to get packed up and ride off into the sunset, literally right into the sunset, which made our visibility very poor. At one point, my deteriorating pannier (from a few wipeouts) just completely popped off! I glanced back just in time to see Nick swerve to miss it and I pulled over as quick as possible. The blinding sun caused me to miss the fact I was pulling off into loose gravel so Frankenbike toppled over again. I only suffered a scrape on my wrist and a gash on my glove. We managed to collect the contents from the pannier, smash it back into a box form, and tie it back to my bike. We rode south and planned to make another attempt at the Tongariro Alpine Crossing the following day. Night fell and we didn’t want to splurge on a hostel, after spending two nights near Mount Maunganui, so we set up camp in a field next to a park and ride.
Visibility was poor.
Camp for the night, a small field next to a park and ride.