I had some friends who had recently come to New Zealand for a much needed holiday from overseas, they had never been here before and were staying with me in Tauranga for a week or so.

They were asking me “What are the sorts of things to do in Tauranga?” So for one I suggested that we get out and get some fresh air and climb ‘Mauao’ (Mt Maunganui). 'Mauao' is an ancient extinct volcano located at the end of the Mount Maunganui pennisula.

So off we went, we went up the side of the Mount and decided to take “the stairs” track.

It’s great up there now because the last time I was up there (going back about 5 years now) the path was quite rough and lots of rocks were sticking up out of the ground etc, which made it very easy to twist your ankle! But now all the stairs are boxed and new shells/gravel have been laid so it’s very tidy.

Very tiring work climbing up all those stairs, and we were all huffing and puffing. We had a couple of rest stops on the way up and admired the gorgeous view so far.

My friends were saying “Oh my god, how much longer?” I just replied “Don’t think about it, think how greater exercise this is for our legs!”

We finally reached the top and all the hard work was forgotten. What an awesome view! The day was beautiful and there was hardly any wind which made it magic!

We sat up there for about half an hour just staring out at the ocean, it was very calming and relaxing. After we had all rested we decided to make our way back down, we decided to take the same track down as we came up, which was ten times easier (I might add) and saying hello to each person we passed on the way down.

My friends commented on how friendly everyone is in Tauranga which was really nice to hear.
There is an alternate track you can also take which is called the Four Wheel Drive track, which is pretty much road. But I prefer the stairs track, that way you get to walk through the bush too and again get a great leg workout!

When we got to the bottom I suggested that we go and grab a Good Ole Classic Copenhagen Ice cream cone, what better way to end our energizing trip up the Mount!