Mount Maunganui is a beautiful beach town in the Bay of Plenty in New Zealand. Like many surf spots, it has a relaxed and fun vibe – and a very healthy side too. One of the favourite morning activities of locals (aside from a surf) is to walk or run up the mountain for which the town is named. At only 20ish minutes, it’s pretty short, but MAN is it steep!
Long-time readers might remember my travel buddy Kate, who lived in London for two years. She’s now back in New Zealand (after sailing part-way round the world!) and it was so great to catch up with her while I was back. We headed down to Mt Maunganui for 24 hours to see our friends Alex and Kelly – it’s an easy 2-3 hour drive from Auckland. Kelly decided to really welcome us into Mount life by taking us up to the town’s favourite viewpoint.
Sporty girls heading towards the Mount
That’s the Mount in the pic above… okay okay, so “conquering” might be a tad over-dramatic. It’s only 232 metres (761 feet). But I am so not a fan of steps, and there are a LOT involved here! Historically the mountain was used by the Maori (New Zealand’s indigenous people) as a pa, a home and defensive site – you can see why when you see the 360-degree views around.
Heading up
So I didn’t take a lot of photos on the way up as I was too busy huffing and puffing (seriously, I can run for ages on the flat, but put me in front of 20 steps and I’m done). BUT with views like these, even I wasn’t complaining about the gradient. What a gorgeous day!
The trig point marking the top – whoop!
Looking towards the town – a popular spot for cruise ships to dock in!
Really not kidding about those stairs
A photo posted by Jessi (@jessi2feet1world) on
Fortunately there was one more reward in store for us – it was time to hit the surf!
Where’s your favourite beach town?
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