DAY 58: Coromandel Weekend- The Pinnacles

FUN FACT #24: Hiking in New Zealand is called "tramping". So when asked if you are going tramping this weekend, try not to respond with "No, my student loans don't kick in till next year..."

Living in the North Island, one of the top ten things to do in the Summer months is to go to the Coromandel Peninsula. It's great beaches and fun hikes make it the place to go. As the summer weather was coming to a close, we decided to go.

Myself, Lizzy, Amy, Jaime, and Emma rented a car for the weekend and started off with the tallest mountain in the Coromandel- The Pinnacles. Part of this area was used in Lord of the Rings when they go into the "Valley of the Dead". Lucky for us, we didn't see any ghosts. Just a million ba-jillion stairs.

The hike was really cool- lots of water made stairs into rock and clay that carved its way into the mountain. (I ate it pretty good on the way down, with a bruise the size of my fist to prove it) The Department of Conservation has "hut" (a.k.a. a nice house) available about halfway to the top (apparently, this is supposed to be a 2 day hike--- no one told us...) Following the hut, was a 6
00 step man-made staircase to the tippy top of the rocks. We did the hike (round trip) in about 6 hours. Whoop Whoop!

If you look closely, you can see the itty bitty white staircase to the Hut.

FUN FACT #25: In the Maori language, the letters "Wh" make the "f" sound. So all the names of places sound different than how they are spelled. Such as "Whangarei" is actually pronounced "fang-ga-ray". My personal favorite is "Whakapapa." Say it out loud and you'll know why.

Once out of the "Bush" we were back on the road to get to our first hostel for the weekend in Whangamata. We are following the directions and get ourselves into a suburb. We are looking at every house, hopeful that it is the place. Then Amy says what we were all trying to avoid speaking out loud.

"See that s#*t hole down there? I think that's it..."

She was right. And no joke, this place made the Pinnacle Hut look like the goddamn Ritz Carlton. I double checked my bed for bugs, and luckily there were none. We dropped off our stuff and headed for the cheapest and best food in town- Thai food. We walked in all disgusting from out hike and sat down in this incredibly fancy restaurant. Awkward....

The lady at the counter asked Emma what we did that day, to which Emma responded saying we had gone tramping. The woman smiled and yelled "Ohhhh you spow-tee gull!!!"

Now if we do anything outdoors, we imitate the nice Thai lady. 

"I'm going for a run..."

"OHH YOU SPOW-TEE GULL!"

Took my shower that night with one eye on the spider dangling from the ceiling. Kayaking tomorrow!