This is NZ: Whangarei Heads

I told my boss I was going to Whangarei (Pronounced Fa-nga-rey) for Easter, she said "Whangarei??? There's nothing in Whangarei..."


I beg to differ.


Oh-ah, pwede na ba akong mag mow-del ng shoes? 3 hours from Auckland CBD, on the east coast of New Zealand's Northland region are the Whangarei Heads. “Heads” is a geographic term for a hilly area at the entrance to a harbour. I guess Maculot is a head, and the climb is similar (minus the sari-sari store at the top).


I went with my North Shore buddies Deck, Tess and Marie, and we stayed with our new-found friend Kristy and her super-dooper cute bob, Alyysa. Bob's kiwi for baby.

The schlong-looking rock in the background is the summit. Madali lang ang climb, mga 2 hours para sa mga puti, 3-4 sa pinoys, 5 hours for the Japanese and Chinese (inde dahil malakas sila, kundi dahil mahilig tayong mga asians na mag-pose, hehe). Nothing to see on the way up, pero when you reach the first view point, it's a Vee-U-Teeh, veveh!



Wag kayo malikot (me nangungulangot, shhh, hehehe).




After 2 hours and a thousand photos, we reached the end of the tourist trail which was a viewing deck at the base of the tallest rock. Deck and I saw a path around it and we decided to go exploring. The trail got narrow and narrower.



We saw two trails and decided to split. Below's a photo of Deck I took.




And that's me. Ang ganda ng view noh? We met a couple climbing down, and we asked "Is the view worth the risk?" Usually they'd sa yes, but this one answered "Uh... I can't answer that for you." We soon understood why.




The trail went 30, 50, 80 degrees, then naging wall climbing na sya. Naku pow, nanginginig na tuhod ko't nagfla-flashback na ako sa nerbyos, hehehe. Maori legend says when their chief dies, the body is brought up the summit to prevent it from being desecrated by rival tribes. We never got to the summit (I could have, pero naiihi na ako eh, hehe).




My new friendster and facebook pic (add me!).

"Writing about climbing is boring. I would rather go
climbing."
— Chuck Pratt.

"I love climbing because it feels so good
when I stop..."
— Karl