It's not every day I decide to walk up a mountain. It actually might be a hill, but for the sake of my dignity, I'm calling it a mountain.
I haven't been for a decent walk for a few weeks, and I certainly have not introduced my legs to any walk up a hill longer than 20 minutes, so they were justifiably upset when I took on the Kakepuku walking track.
It's a nice track through the bush, starting off with farmland. A gradual incline leads you to believe you can, in fact, master the walk, but about halfway up, just when you're ready for a break, the track becomes a steep clay hike.
Following that are stairs, many, many stairs. I might be exaggerating, as I was rather tired by the point of stairs, but there are certainly a few.
Though gasping for air at the top, it was a spectacular walk. Just the right amount of time (we did it in 2hrs 30mins) to get the blood pumping and feeling like you've done a very good amount of exercise for the day.