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4.26.2011

day 2 - The Pinnacles

We started the morning with some pancakes while deciding what we should do for the day. The Coromandel, so we've been told, is known for it's beaches, but there are also some amazing hikes in the middle of the peninsula that we thought we should check out. I thought there was no way Ryan would want to do a full day hike, but go figure, that's the one he wanted to do :) So...we looked outside, it was sunny, so we figured...let's go for it!

We spoke too soon. We hadn't really calculated the time it would take to get to the trailhead, so after almost an hour of driving through the back country it had started pouring down rain. Too late to turn around now! Luckily, I had left my rain coat in the car the night before so we headed off down the trail, thinking "it never rains ALL day, it must stop eventually"...

The hike did have these fun bridges across the river that we zigzagged across occasionally. The area we were hiking through was first discovered when logging companies hiked up here for the timber. The trail was created for mules that were carrying supplies up to the top.

La te da, just hiking in the rain :) I do have pants on by the way, I was just dressed for a little warmer weather.

A lot of pretty waterfalls, and well, just a lot of water in general.
Finally we saw a pinnacle! You are probably wondering what a pinnacle is? Well, a pinnacle forms when sediment builds up inside a volcano. Then, over time, the volcano falls away leaving the pointy looking sediment. That is my understanding anyway, I'm thinking maybe I should do some further reading. The view from the top is supposed to be spectacular, one of the must do's in NZ, but unfortunately the weather wasn't really cooperating...so we turned around and headed back.
More neat bridges and water. I believe it was right around this time that I slipped and fell, which left me with a huge bruise on the side of my leg and on both of my knees. Awesome :)

Here we are back down at the bottom after our adventurous (and treacherous) day to the Pinnacles. This was taken right before we found out our car wouldn't start... So apparently the adventure wasn't quite over.

I sort of freaked out at this time. There wasn't anyone around and most of the hikers make this hike in 2 days meaning they aren't coming down until tomorrow. We were 9kms from the ranger station with no cell phone coverage...and it was going to get dark soon. Yikes. I had my mind set that we were going to have to spend the night in our car until someone would come and be able to rescue us.

Ryan offered to start jogging to the ranger station while I stayed back in case anyone came along with jumper cables. About 15 minutes after he left two nice German guys came down and offered to give me a ride to the ranger station. I met Ryan there and a very nice ranger, Eric, was able to drive us back and get our car going. Woohoo!

On our way back to civilization we came across this sign. Apparently we were going to ford the river! Oregon Trail anyone?

From inside the car, it actually looks like we might be in the river...

On our way back to our "home", we stopped by another little beach to see the sunset. It was very pretty, and it made me excited for the beach the next day!

And then we crashed :)

3 comments:

  1. That coat is the best thing I've gotten maybe in my whole life. Yes, that great! It's from the North Face outlet in cincy actually. :)

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