Mount Te Aroha

So to explain what is going on here, I lost this post a few days ago (don't know how) and just managed to put it together again.  Here it is again.

Passing Under Kanuka - Te Aroha

 Last Sunday was a perfect day so Catherine and I drove off to the east from Hamilton to the sleepy and frosty Te Aroha township and parked beside the local hot pools.  It was icy as we started off up the track towards the summit of Mt Te Aroha. Below us the town was waking up and the sound of chainsaws chased us up the hill. The track was well graded, especially for the bottom half, up through nikau palms, puriri, kanuka and near the top, beech trees.  We took our time and were passed by a couple of local runners, one of them on his way down from the summit - hardy soul - those were the days! 

Catherine on Ascent

It was a clear fine day and through the gaps on the bush we could make out the forms of Karioi, Pirongia, Maungatautari and to the south the central North Island snow covered volcanos. We arrived on top and found ourselves a nice warm grassy spot for lunch. On the way down we stopped to take photos of the fungi growing along the trackside.

Trackside Fungi

Closer to the bottom it turned out that the chainsaws this morning were go-carts at a major regional event! At the end we found out that the frost had interfered with the hot pool heat interchanger - so we elected to return home without a hot swim. To a good feed.