Last Sunday, we went to Punakaiki to have Thanksgiving Dinner (a few weeks late due to unavoidable changes in plans) with some friends. Esther and I and the little girls went early to get the turkeys cooking and spend the afternoon hanging out with our friends, and Gayle and the boys came later. On the way, they climbed Mount George. There is a track going off the main highway, but the beginning of it is rather obscured. Only locals know where it is, for the most part. Some of our boys climbed it a couple of years ago, and have wanted to go back, ever since. This time, both Simon and Elijah took a bunch of pictures with their phones, and let me have them. I’ll see if I can combine the photos in an order that makes sense.
This first one is a panorama that Elijah took from the top. What a view! It was quite foggy, but cleared a bit for a few of these shots.
On top the mountain! The bits of white near Gayle’s head are the surf breaking on the shore of the Tasman Sea.
Mr. Imagination
Elijah taking a picture…
…of Simon taking a picture of him!
Mr. Sweetie decided to climb up a cliff.
This part of the track looks doable to me.
See the bit of road off in the distance? Mom, you have been on that road, when we drove from Pancake Rocks to Greymouth, on our West Coast trip seven years ago.
This part of the track, on the other hand, looks, to say the least, challenging to me. The phone was pointing straight down to take this one.
Apparently, it’s easiest to back down this section!
Climbing a mountain is on my bucket list for someday. I hope to give Mount George a try. Someday, when I no longer have tiny children and pregnancies to deal with! In the meantime, I’m thankful that my boys can have experiences like this, and bring back pictures to show me.
Thank you for the photos! I don’t think that I would like to do this kind of hiking even if I could make it back to NZ, so I’ll be content with the photos. Yes, I do remember that stretch of road, but from on the road! It was a beautiful drive!