Bay of Plenty - Te Aroha & Butlers Incline

Our last weekend in the North Island and no better way to spend it but down in the Bay of Plenty with good old friends Kate, Chris and their children. On Saturday we met up at a mid way point at a little sleepy town, Te Aroha, and after a brief play in the playground (children not adults) and a quick picnic lunch we went off on a tramp in Waiorongomai Valley, New Zealand style.

So there we trot, little fluffy lambs to the slaughter comes to mind. It was a lovely walk up through the forrest…passing a little tunnel and wee waterfall...

... and then we reached the 'Blinkin' nora' Buttlers Incline, the oldest known railway in New Zealand where the original railway still exists. Now on initial inspection it looks totally feasible, a short little uphill climb up the track… up we trot all keen and eager,

15 minutes later children have gone on ahead and are out of sight, calves are burning, knees are trembling, lungs are wheezing and then we hear the faint distant call “yeah we’re at the half way point”… what the…!!!

It was one of those moments we’ve gone so far we can’t go back and we will not be beaten especially by the five children who have rocketed up the hill, the youngest being only 5 years old! So we plod on, lots of “just taking a photograph” stops to catch breath allow heart rate to calm down. To be honest I don’t think I’ve got one good photo as there was serious camera shake going on! But yeah, we got there in the end and such a sense of achievement. Now I know to your average super fit out door Kiwi this would have been a breeze and probably skipped up there with weights and a backpack, and repeat it a few times over at that.

At the top there was the informative Butlers Incline sign indicating that the climb can be compared to climbing a high as 845 steps, 400m rising steeply at 25 degrees and should take approx 15 - 25 minutes walk… nice pre warning after we’ve completed the walk!!!

The walk back down again in comparison to the up hill hike was a stunner with beautiful views across the valley... end destination Te Aroha Grand Tavern to experience a pub New Zealand style, which was an added bonus and well deserved me thinks.

Then back to Katikati to Chris & Kate's for a pork roast, super sized slow cooker hard at work while we were on our endevours. Now I’ve never sampled a slow cooked roast before but all I can say is I’m a total covert, it was sooo damn good! One down side to slow cooking however was the Chris' crackling issue being a touch on the soft squidgy side and lacking the crackle... but never one to be defeated it endured a quick roast in the oven, fry and final explosive microwave zapping sessions - the crackling was spot on, yum!