on top of the world - at Makara Hill

Another activity yang dah lama dibuat tapi tak sempat nak dipost kan ...hahaha ..sibuk kan ...malas akak nak bagitau how sibuk my life has been ..but we got to take control somehow and try not to work ...alasan akak today for not working! It is supposed to be summer here ..but Welly's summer is a mixture of wind, rain and lots of cold weather ...suhu today was 8 degree celcius ...now dah naik sket to 10 degree ...akak memang plan tak nak kuar today ...just nak chill at home and catch up with work ..but ended up watching my current obsession - Stalker - a drama on stalking lol ...bahana ex-flatmate aku yang download china punya website tv online ke laptop aku hahaha ...dah 6 episodes dah aku tengok today ..so plan kerja ntah ke mana ...alang alang tak buat kerja, maka kitter blogging dulu :-)

I went to Makara two months ago ... a plan yang aku and Lyn buat coz masa tu we have access to a car. Housemate dia travel overseas and left her the car ..so, panjang le langkah kami kami berdua ..sebab nak gi Makara nie takde public transport lalu direct situ ....kalau ada bus pun, gi takat Karori ajer ..and you'll have to walk or cycle all the way to Makara Beach or the hills ...

have to walk round that bay before ada jalan untuk mendaki bukit ...

Sebab we plan on tracking the whole way, maka we started at the beach itself ...and walk the Makara Beach Loop ..started at the beach and ended at the beach. Weather was wonderful ...gila babas punya sunny after a cold and cloudy start ...masa kat beach, it was a bit cloudy ..but the higher up we went, the better it was ...tapi sebab cuaca tak menentu, memang pakai baju berlapis lapis lah ...and the hotter it gets, tanggal satu persatu ....

aku suka bunga kuning nie ...tapi now I know, orang local tak suka sebab it is considered as pest ..it is not a native plant here ..it was actually introduced to NZ but then it become a pest sebab it start to take over the landscape ..hard to kill sebab a hardy tree ...now I know not to say aku suka pokok nie bila I am with a local - especially if his/her family is a farmer!

track dia mula mula menyusuri pantai ..then you will start an uphill climb ...masa ini aku masih tersenyum and syok posing hahaha sebab ingat bukit tu tinggi yang kat belakang tu ajer ....but in reality, it just goes up ...and when you think that's the end, turn around a corner and saw another uphill track ..and another ..and another ...and another .....

at our first lookout ..masa nie akak dah tercunggap cunggap hahaha ingatkan dah dekat dah ok ...but this was like baru 15 mins into the track :p but the view was awesome ...breathtaking ...to get to this one, pendakian senang ...jalan pun selesa ...after this baru le lalu track yang berliku-liku ....sometimes to close to the edge! Pi below nie was taken not far from our first stop ..ingatka dh dekat dah hahaha but di sebalik bukit tu ada lagi bukit lagi tinggi

The loop itself is about 6km ...kalau datar ajer I guess senang nak jalan but sebab it is hilly ...nasib i was wearing my hiking boots with ankle support ..coz certain places memang curam dan mencabar ..plus kegayatan aku is another obstacle ...Lyn directed me to the right spot ..kalau track tu terlalu dekat dengan edge, dia akan carikan track lain for me hahahaha ...scary siot! but at the end of the tracking, I guess I did, to a limited extent, conquer my fear ...siap posing2 at the edge of the hill ...pastu menggagau turun ...

only halfway there! tapi gaya cam dah on top of the world :-) dan banyak layer baju dah ditanggalkan sebab cuaca semakin panas

on the way up there akan melalui ladang ladang ...so there will be cows and sheep along the way ...kitorang banyak stop along the way to take pictures ..If i am not mistaken, this trip alone ada over 120 photos hahaha ....seriously breathtaking ...

 lamb chop anyone? kesian tau tengok muka dorang ....

We reached Fort Opau ..at the top of Makara - which has a vantage point overlooking Cook Strait ...disebabkan lokasi yang strategik ini lah, maka dulu2 dorang jadikan tempat ini fort ...masa WW2 gitu ..ada a few gun emplacement kat situ

 one of the gun emplacement - kitorang had our lunch on top of that aritu ....

and another three emplacements below us ...with a view of Cook Strait ...actually on a good day macam aritu, we can have a glimpse of the South Island

lepak makan and rest for 30-40 mins ..then we started our down hill track ...sambil tu stop posing posing lagi lah ...as usual ...

 This is the nearest I am to the edge ..and at the very top of the cliff ..muka ajer senyum, kepala lutut dah ketap ...pas ambik gambar nie ..i was actually crawling back to the track ...and had to stop to recoup my strength .....it was a sheer drop!org lain gambar sambil lompat2 hahaha ...akak cam nak nangis ...but never mind, I had feel that awesome feeling of being on top of the world while trying to conquer my fear ....

then it is all downhill from here ....and awesome trip ..but the side effet dia ialah ..aku sakit kaki masa balik tu ...and one month on ..i just discovered that I actually injured my ligament masa trip nie ..and when I did my Mount VIc walk last weekend, that injured ligament resurfaced ...so, wont be doing any hiking soon till diluluskan oleh my GP :-)

Note: still to come...my walking trip to Red Rocks, my coastal walk to the bays, a windy trip to Castlepoint .....ntah biler tu kan hahaha ...will try to update soon xoxo