I spent a day away from the sea on Tuesday, and walked up the Kaurenga Valley and climbed The Pinnacles. The whole area used to be covered with ancient Kauri Trees (which are enormous!) until the area was subjected to extensive logging in the early 1900's. Lots of the tracks in the area are old logging paths which, at times, are quite literally carved into the side of the hills so that teams of bullocks could be used to drag out the timber.
The path I took wound its way up and up until a final very steep scramble to the summit of The Pinnacles. Millions of years ago the area was very volcanic, but the volcanoes have since fallen dormant and eroded over the years, leaving a whole series of volcanic "plugs" - of which The Pinnacles is one.The view from the top was very impressive and stretched right across the Coromandel Peninsula. (Click HERE for photos.)
After I had recovered from the exertions of Tuesday, I moved to the east coast of the Coromandel (where the really nice beaches are!) and spent a few days at Whitianga. On Thursday I finally had a go at windsurfing, which I've been meaning to try for some time. Conditions for learning were pretty much perfect - a very light breeze in the morning which picked up in the afternoon. The combination of good conditions and a desire not to enter the cold water, meant that I only fell off around half a dozen times in around 3 hours! I'm definitely going to have to do more windsurfing in Oz when I get there in a couple of weeks time...
