Mt Taranaki looked beautiful in the golden dawn light, its 2,500m high volcanic cone brilliant against the morning’s clear sky. I hadn’t done enough training really for the 1,600m ascent of the New Zealand volcano but it had been on my bucket list for years. Reaching the summit would mark it as volcano number 30 … Continue reading Volcano number 30 – Mt Taranaki
volcano
Volcano number 29 – Mt Maunganui
Mt Maunganui - it's one of those easy-access New Zealand bucket-list volcanoes. So being in Tauranga over the weekend, it was a must to climb to the 232m high summit. Also known as Mauao or affectionately as The Mount, this volcano, which marks the entrance to Tauranga Harbour, is ancient and now extinct. Mauao means … Continue reading Volcano number 29 – Mt Maunganui
Volcano number 28 – Rarotonga
When your tour guide gets out of the car in the middle of nowhere holding a machete there are several thoughts likely to flit across your mind. For me, it was: S*&! is this guy going to murder us?? AND Jeepers creepers, this hike might be wild and hard core. Thankfully, the latter thought was … Continue reading Volcano number 28 – Rarotonga
Volcano number 27 – The Tongariro Alpine Crossing
What’s the first thought that comes into your head when I say wake up at 3:30am? Mine was: I don’t want to do that, this is going to be hard, I’ll be so tired, I might sleep through my alarm. Amazing really what our ego mind likes to tell us so that it can keep … Continue reading Volcano number 27 – The Tongariro Alpine Crossing
Volcano number 26 – Helvellyn
Helvellyn – It’s a mountain (and a volcano) I’ve wanted to climb for years. One of those illusive ones that I could have done a number of times but just never got round to. That was, until earlier this month, when my fiancé and I made our way up to England’s Lake District for a … Continue reading Volcano number 26 – Helvellyn
Volcano number 25 – the Giant’s volcano
Ok, so it’s not a volcanic mountain per se, but the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland is still volcanic in nature, being the result of an ancient volcanic fissure. And it’s pretty fricken cool. As we were in Northern Ireland as part of our sail around Great Britain, and it was just around the corner … Continue reading Volcano number 25 – the Giant’s volcano
Volcano number 24: The Munro volcano
It’s late September 2020. I’m in Scotland and I’m about to climb my first Munro – a Scottish mountain over 3,000 feet (914.4m), of which there are 282. It also happens to be a volcano and the UK’s highest mountain. Ben Nevis stands at a glorious 4,411 feet (1,345m) and is beautifully imposing. It is … Continue reading Volcano number 24: The Munro volcano
Volcano number 23: The private volcano
April 2020 was spent in a yellow motel room in the small tourist town Te Anau in New Zealand. That first Covid lockdown put paid to my #WalkNZ adventure – just seven days from the finish line in Bluff. Once things opened up in New Zealand, and the rest of the world was still on … Continue reading Volcano number 23: The private volcano
Volcano number 21: The #WalkNZ volcano
The sign said it would take four hours to get to the top of Pirongia, an ancient 959 metre-high volcano in New Zealand's Waikato/King Country region, and to the Pahautea hut. Clearly this sign does not take into account a 17kg backpack nor the mud. But six hours to the highest peak on #WalkNZ so … Continue reading Volcano number 21: The #WalkNZ volcano
Volcano number 17: The easy-yet-hard volcano
I regretted it the moment the hill started to steepen. It was already hot and muggy, and within minutes of climbing through tropical rainforest to the crater lake lookout, I felt like I was slowly being steamed alive. Today was supposed to be the easy walk. A nice and gentle three-hour stroll around Lagoa das … Continue reading Volcano number 17: The easy-yet-hard volcano