Mt Tauhara (Christmas Shared Lunch Special), Wednesday December 7 2010
The lucky ones: Alison Greer, John Marshall, Peter Slagter, Kelvin Shaw, John Gray, Diane and David Hills, John Burrell and Ken Ross
There are lots of things I like about Wednesday shared lunch tramps. They tend to be shorter; we have a really great lunch and a relaxation period afterwards. Maybe I should be a picnicker, not a tramper. This year, with a good destination and good weather, we again had a great day to end 2010.
The energetic section to start the day was to climb Mount Tauhara at Taupo. This is just a steady climb on a reasonable track which surprisingly runs alongside a small stream near the top. The view from the top makes it well worth the effort – 360degrees, Kaimanawas, Kaingaroa Plains, Lake Taupo and the Central North Island mountains. (Unfortunately, these were shrouded in cloud.) That’s logical, I guess, because you can see Tauhara from everywhere! We had an extended break at the top to take photos and enjoy the view. Usually it’s one or the other.
Then it was off to Acacia Bay for our shared lunch. As usual, I felt sorry for those who couldn’t be with us as we again had a magnificent spread. Such a feast warranted a bit of relaxation under the shade of the lakeside trees.
We then travelled around the lake a bit to pick up a gentle lakeside bush track which took us out to Whakamoenga Point from where we could see the full expanse of Lake Taupo and (of course) Mt Tauhara. Then after retracing our steps, it was back to Napier. We had all enjoyed a relaxed end-of-year tramp.
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