We are in Marsden Cove Marina waiting for the next window to Fiji. Our To-do list has about 22 items on it now. The most crucial being the need to top off the fuel, the water and notify Fiji that we are coming. Still it would be nice to finish the others if time permits. And as we wait for the next window, time may permit.
My biggest issue with waiting for weather windows in Marsden is that across the river and Urquharts Bay is Mt. Manai calling to me. It is a beautiful set of pinnacles that the Maoris used to bury their chief on. Marsden has little to offer in the way of hiking…and in the distance is Mt. Manaia…taunting me.
Well today we conquered it!

On top of Mt Manaia

We helped Bright Angel depart, hit the Farmer’s Market currently held in the canvas tent in the marina (score!) and then jumped in the rental car that was ours for an extra day because the office is closed on Sunday and took off.
There are 1198 steps up to the peak of Mt. Manai. I counted them by pocketing a pebble every one hundred steps. Every step was worth it…even when we had to come back down them. And the day was perfect; the view was stunning. We actually think we saw Bright Angel about 15 miles offshore.

The local version of stairway to heaven.

The hike up was as beautiful as the views. Huge Kauri trees and this venerable old guy.

The views were tremendous, partly because you were standing right on the edge of a sheer wall that dropped hundreds of feet straight down.

You can see why the Maori found this to be a spiritual place with it's soaring views as this one out over the ocean.

And in this view you can see Urquharts Bay in the upper right where we hiked later after coming down from Mt Manaia.

And because we were on that side of the river, we decided to do a second hike from Urquharts Bay to Busby Head, the peak at the entrance to the river leading to Whangarei, and back via Smuggler’s Cove. The weather was perfect and the views were worth every step.

The hike from Urquharts Bay to Smugglers Cove.

Smugglers Cove.

And of course we earned our double scoop ice cream cones near McLeod’s Bay.

A really fun day. Tomorrow should be a lot more productive as we aim for a late week departure for Fiji.

And yes…we will load pictures tomorrow…too exhausted tonight!