Trapped in the city of Auckland and ready to get my legs moving we decided to head out for a weekend burner to the Pinnacle hut, two hours South of the city. It is a spot I have been eyeing up for a while to explore and lucky for me a good mate of mine, Nico, was free to join.
With the packed essentials for camping I decided to bring some coconut water along as well. Why have regular water when you can have a treat that also does a better job at replenishing electrolytes. I am always beat when I get to the end of a hike but hydration helps bring me back to life sooner so I can stay out and shoot longer. I have been really into Obrigado Coconut water and Nico really liked it as well!
We headed up into the hills, not a long walk but quite a bit of elevation and with a heavy camping pack to stay the night. We knew what we were in for so we carried on.
The forest was alive with birds and beautiful in this healthy bush. In New Zealand there were no mammals on these islands before man arrived so most of the native life here is bird life that has adapted to have no predators. The mammals that have been brought to NZ have decimated what is left of the native bird life. People here work very hard with trapping and poisons to control pest animals, which has had wonderful effects in this particular bush! It was nice to hear a great dawn chorus to wake up to.
When we arrived at the campground we still had a lot of climbing to do to get to the jagged rocks up the top of the mountain. We had a rest and rehydrated then went up for sunset. It was a beautiful sunset! Such an amazing spot , I could see why everyone loves this hike. We stayed up until the sun went down and headed back to camp by head torch.
In the morning we woke to the sound of bell birds chiming away, I love waking up in the in the forest. We packed up our things casually. I boiled some water on my camp stove and made us coffee before departing.
The route down went uphill again for some time because we decided to take an alternative way down. A bit of rain started to come in but we were well protected by the looming canopy. North New Zealand is quite tropical.
We made it back through bubbling streams and beautiful vistas. This used to be an old logging track so it was interesting to see the ways they took logs way back. They would float these thousand year old Sadly there are no big old growth trees left in the New Zealand forests to take so these old Kauri Dams have become obsolete.
What a lovely trip into the hills, I always feel refreshed after going into the bush even for just a little trip. There are always ways to get outside even if you are in a city!
This blog was written in Paid Partnership with Obrigado Coconut Water.