It was time to put my new hiking boots to the test! I was quite confident, that I had walked them in, just by walking in them to work several times. For ages did we want to go and check out the Wairere Falls.
And today, we finally got around to do that. Of course, the weather wasn’t really perfect (some drizzle had started on Saturday already), but as the saying (actually, ad) goes:
There’s no bad weather, only inappropriate clothing.
Was pretty tough going and I was happy to have my walking sticks, helped me fighting off pain in my knees for quite a while (it always catches up with me on the way down, though). After all, the weather turned out to be quite nice for hiking: not too warm, with a light breeze (got a bit gusty later on) and overcast.
At the first lookout, we got greeted with this view:
The Wairere Falls from below...
Since we were still in pretty good shape, we decided to go to the top of the 153m high falls. Geez, that was muddy and steep to get to the top. Apparently, the old Maori track to the top is even steeper (hard to imagine!). But in the end, we made it. Was just a shame that the wind and rain had picked up and we didn’t get such a good view.
It was quite funny that you get to the top and you reach kind of a plateau, with a tranquil little river running along. And following that little river, pretty quick, you get to the drop!
...and from the top
Scary!!! But a really nice reward for all that laboring up the hill!! 🙂
Now I only need to get my knees back into shape to do the next hike…