What goes up must come down

Mist visible on the summit.

The mist lifts and reveals the lake.

With the mist lifting Victoria can admire the views.

And then the mist drops again, hiding the ridge that should be visible through the trees.

Flowers of the New Zealand flax, found at the end of the ridge.

The end of the ridge undulations: looking back up along the Panekiri Range and out over Lake Waikaremoana before commencing the steepest part of the descent. Note how the vegetation manages to grow up over even the near-vertical slopes.

Safely at the bottom and bound for civilisation while looking back at the morning's route: the Panekiri Range from the comfort of the water taxi. We descended along the skyline of this ridge. If I read the map correctly (using a blatant guess about the location of the boat!) that's Bald Knob at the right hand end, and Panekiri Hut, where we started in the morning, is 2-3km behind that and invisible to us at this angle.

Refreshed and relaxed and sitting down to a meal that doesn't entirely comprise dehyrdrated concoctions. From left to right: Helen (with neither hat nor hat hair!), Sally, Ann, Victoria, Dianne, Lynn, Elizabeth, Tony, Peter and Vicki.

View of the camping ground that formed out base camp, as seen from a little lookout that I discovered in the late evening because of a nearby cache. The Panekiri Range is under cloud in the background.