Mt. Wellington

Life has taught me that if you wanna go up, you'll probably have to go down (and vice versa.) In this case, after a free bus ride up, I decided it was a great idea to walk via the not so instantly obvious way down - there was a map, but choosing one of the many colourful squiggly lines leading off in multiple directions is tricky when you're not entirely sure where 'YOU ARE HERE' is or which side of the mountain you need to get to in order to catch the local bus back...

I assume I expected to have one of those life altering experiences, you know the one, all alone except for your thoughts and nature to keep you company, when suddenly you're hit by a moment of clarity that changes your perspective on reality forever... Sadly it didn't go that way. Based on the 'up, down' principle, meandering my way along slippery rock paths leading downward, all I got hit with was good old panic, plunging further into what I imagined at the time was not dissimilar to a witch's cauldron as the cloud and mist rose around me, wondering whether I'd ever see civilisation again or if nature would have its way and I'd end up living out my days as a bush woman, surviving solely on small grubs, mud and tree bark... until I saw a real life person walking towards me, sanity and calm snapped back into action and I realised I was going the right way. (Quite possibly I helped the young man reach the top faster in a bid to gain distance, lest he be caught by the crazed bush woman of Mt. Wellington...) I recorded the trip just in case the above played out.