Whangerai - Mt Manaia

We drove to Whangerai - half way between The Bay of Islands and Auckland - on New Years Day. On the 2nd, since Holly's attempt to find something else to do proved unsuccessful, I convinced her to go up Mt Manaia. It was only 400m of climbing but it was ridiculously steep. Reviews on the internet said it was worth the struggle, and boy were they right! We spent about half an hour on the top before Holly said she was getting cold, so she headed down and I said I would catch her up. Instead I  did the complete opposite and wanted to get to
the very top. So after a bit of fighting through some bushes I came to the second picture where you can see 3 people clambering up where I was about to go. If you hadn't already guessed, that's the reason I sent Holly down first, because there is no way she would have let me go up there! Good job Mum wasn't there either! I scrambled up that bit and then reached the next obstacle, a near sheer 20m ish rock face - that's the third picture on a bit where I didn't need my hands. After a precarious climb up that I got a full 
360 degree view, with every direction looking as good as the photo at the top. I spent far too long up there but just couldn't resist. The climb down was a bit worse but I didn't fall to my death so it's all good. After that I ran back down so Holly wasn't waiting too long. It was definitely worth the struggle!