I love adventures...in doses and in the ways that I choose. But I suppose that it the very opposite of all "adventure" definitions.
We've decided to be quite wild on this trip-seeing and doing as much as humanly possible.
Jonathan did a giant rope swing in Queenstown, New Zealand.
We've driven thousands of kilometers over these island roads to see all that we can see.
We met up with the Devin Super Tramp & Louis Cole crew for giant waterslide and zorbing fun up here in the north island.
And just this last week, we tackled the hike from Kauaeranga Valley to The Pinnacles.
Bom
bom
bom.
To give you a bit of context, it's supposed to be a 4ish hour hike in; a 4ish hour hike back. We planned to spend the night at the "Pinnacles Cabin" in between these ventures.
We'd read up on the hike before we attempted it, so we went in prepared for a few stairs and an easy/intermediate hike up the the acclaimed peaks.
I am here to give you some more factual information than all the websites that have gone before me, if you are ever of a mind to tackle this famed route.
First of all, grab a backpack (the good kind with decent straps and lots of pockets.)
Your checklist for said backpack should look something like this:
chocolate
beer
WARM BLANKET (even in the summer it gets cold at night and a sleepless night is miserable for anyone)
a change of clothes (including an extra pair of socks and dry unders)
extra layers for sleeping
toothbrush (or just gum)
something hot to cook for dinner (after even those few short hours of hiking you'll want something tasty and will be tempted to throw a temper tantrum if you've only packed light things like cheese and crackers)
earplugs if you are a light sleeper
something to do at night (a book? a journal?)
some sort of camera (we just used our film and phone cameras and left the DSLR tucked in at home) and with all those slippery steps, I'm glad we did.
Next, you will want to make sure you own a pedometer or have one downloaded on your phone. The number of steps you take in the next two days will be enough to justify an entire ice-cream cake, all to yourself. You must also take a photo of said number of steps as it is likely your machine will never see such high figures there again.
Though the official website is rather detailed in the nuances of the hike, they do leave out a few key facts.
Namely the following:
The mattresses you will sleep on in the Pinnacles Hut are rather crinkly and loud (thusly the need for the earplugs).
They fail to mention the 926 steps that are involved in the 2ish hour hike up to the hut...as well as the plethora of steps that follow in the jaunt up to the Pinnacle.
There is a bit of "bouldering" involved...right when you are near the top and your body is sore and you can see for miles. So if you...ahem, not so fond of heights, this part may feel a bit terrifying.
There *are* in fact pots and pans up at the cabin, so go wild on bringing goods to fill them.
Toms are *probably* not the best shoes in which to do this tramp (as my husband informed me a dozen times over.)
There will be a moment, or three, in the middle of this hike (or at the end as you are valiantly attempting to hoist yourself up the rocks without plunging to your death), when you wonder, why, why you insisted on this cornerstone of the trip.
Why indeed.
But finish it you will (and if you've been smart about it you'll have left some beers in the cooler back in the car), so when you make those last, stumbling steps back to your ride, you will find happiness to match the victorious feelings already rising in your heart.
This trek, these days, will have made you a stronger, better person. And you will never go back to what you once were.
