Press "Enter" to skip to content

Hello Bay of Plenty! ZL1-BP/237

We made it!   out of the Waikato and in to the wider ZL1 adventure playground in the Beautiful Bay Of Plenty.   They sure turned on the sun for us over there that was for sure.    If you are planning to make the walk up Mount Maunganui on a day like we did, make sure you dress loosely, have plenty of sunscreen a hat and plenty of water cause the only way up is the track.   Just a wee hint too while we get started on this summit – take the track that goes round the left side of the mountain to make your way to the summit – there is access going up via the more beach side.   We came down the mountain this way and we are glad we did as there are a lot of stairs to climb that way.    It also made for a great end to the walk, which we ended with an impromptu swim in the sea.

 

BOP2 - the mount
BOP3 - The mount
BOP4 - The mount

 

The walk up to the summit of Mount Maunganui is probably best described as moderate challenge, its steep in places but if the kids can do it with us, i think its one most can achieve in a morning or afternoon, or even after work.   While making our way to the top we even saw a pregnant woman coming down, so its definitely one for anyone to get out there and enjoy and there are pretty amazing views along the way to go with it, so taking your time and taking plenty of short stops along the track is not an issue.  

BOP5 - The Mount
BOP6 - The Mount
BOP7 - The Mount

 

If anyone is paying attention and has noticed something a little different in this last set of photos in the one with the kids, well done!    Myah didn’t quite listen when we suggested she leave all her worldly possessions in the car at the bottom of the mountain before we left, nore had she taken on our suggestion to wear shorts and tshirt and instead left home in a dress.   Well Myah lugged her backpack to the summit and 3/4 of the way up decided that perhaps next time she would take on board our suggestions, however in part this worked in her favor as she was able to make a full wardrobe change to help her cool off in the full heat of the midday sun!    Well we are almost at the top from this point and the next photo shows the last bit of the climb to the summit.  Wyatt and Warren are on the left of the photo going up the stair climb.   They’d managed to find a short cut and went bush bashing so came out ahead of us in the track and made it to the summit before us by about 5 minutes.

BOP8 - The Mount .jpg

BOP9 - The Mount
BOP10 - The Mount
BOP11 - The MOunt
BOP12 - The MOunt

 

Warren raised quite a bit of interest among the people at the summit, a few came over and asked what he was doing,  who he had been able to talk to and what, things were all about.    Finding contacts on this summit was much easier than our first, earlier this day.    A total of 8 contacts were made from ZL, VK and further abroad still.    Unfortunately we weren’t able to make summit to summit contact with VK5FO Bob.    We could hear you Bob, but we couldn’t quite get there to make that contact.   

The views on the way down from the summit were equally as impressive as when we walked up, the difference being rather than coming in the the port, we had an ocean and beach front view.   Once at the bottom, hot and sticky, we were rewarded with an impromptu swim in the sea to cool off before grabbing some dinner and heading off to our last summit of the day

BOP13 - The Mount
BOP15 - The Mount
BOP15 - The Mount
BOP16 - The MOunt
BOP18 - The Mount

 

Summit Information

Summit height – 231 m

Adams Ave, Mount Maunganui, Tauranga. Some parking is time limited. Avoid these parks.

Nominal time to summit 60 – 90 minutes’ walk.

Summit marker – trig station. There’s a picnic table at the top which is convenient to set up the station on and run a dipole between the trig and the pohutukawa trees.

Land access – public park. No permission required.