Driving around the Coromandel Peninsula, we stopped at an information point in Thames to ask about hiking tracks in the area – the Pinnacles which takes about 4-5 hours up to approximately 800 m.

It was already late afternoon, so we wouldn’t have had time to come back. We decided to spend the night up in the mountains, booked 2 mattresses at the hut, put on the trekking shoes, filled-in the water bottles and started the adventure. This was going to be my first serious trekking experience! Walking through the mud, passing unstable bridges, crossing rivers, climbing stairs at almost 90 degrees! That was fun! And of course, the Bear was in his natural habitat!!!

Sleeping at the Hut was not that fun though; big room with more than 20 people, everyone snoring at his/ her own pace, mattresses covered in some kind of plastic making noise each time someone moved and quite cold. Not to say that a dog was trying to steal shoes. Ha ha!