So one of the guys Brenden works with, Kar Weng, mentioned to us about 4 months ago about trekking up Mt. Pinatubo, a volcano about 2.5 hours North of Manila. Sounded great at the time, little did we know about the actual details of the trip. So it turns out we need to leave Manila at 3am to make our way up to the site while stopping at McDonalds to have breakfast on the way. This is no different than catching the 6am flight out of Manila. We're definately not learning when it comes to preservation of sleep.

So we drag ourselves of bed at 2.30am and get down to the apartment lobby at 3am to meet everyone and the drivers. We ended up travelling with Neill and Jill King. Neill works with Brenden and Jill works with Jodi at the British Internation School. Both Neill and Jill had their pillows under their arms - good idea. The rest of the group included Ka Weng Ng, Anne Lavers, John Butler, Penny (Hyder), Dan Moodie (Perth), Adrian (Adelaide) & Gemma.

So the convoy sets out from Frabella and by the time we get to EDSA we're all completely travelling in seperate directions. Nothing like sticking together - lucky this wasn't a team building exercise. About an hour up the road we dropped into a service station for a quick pit stop. Brenden ended buying a packet of Nerds. You know those little pink an purple candy lollies that you had as a kid. Breakfast of Champions!!! He then proceeded to try and convince Rino (Neill and Jills driver) that they were really nice and he should have some. He wasn't too interested. So we continued up the highway for another hour or so until we realised that we had missed the turn we were supposed to take. We ended up having to travel up the highway for about another 15k's before we got to a turn off and then double back. Meanwhile everyone else is feasting themselves on hash browns and bacon and egg mcmuffins from McDonalds. We ended up running so late that we had to get Kar Weng to buy our breakfast as we didn't have time to stop and eat.

We ended up getting to the registration area with 5 minutes to spare. We also went through some defense force security checkpoints on our way too. Well you could hardly call them security checkpoints. There's just a guy sitting next to a boom gate that is left up all the time and he just wave's you through. You get searched more going into the Supermarket.

So we all piled into these Jeeps and started the hour long drive to the base of the volcano. The scenerey is quite amazing. There are these amazing flood plains covered in ash created by lava flows. It reminded of us what we thought Mongolia would look like. Half way along we passed a guy riding on a horse who then started galloping behind us at about 40-50 km's. Jill was quite excited - she's a bit of a horse whisperer but admittably, it did look pretty cool. The rest of the drive entailed lots of river/creek crossings and some of the most amazing cliffs and scenery we've seen yet.

We finally get to the base of the volcano, arses bruised and noses full of dust. About 150 metres in the walk we encounter our first creek crossing. The website did mention to expect to get your feet wet but we weren't expecting it so soon. The worst thing about it was there were 2 more crossings within about 10 minutes then there was nothing for the rest of the walk so our feet were wet for the entire trip thanks to the first 500 metres of the walk. The actual pace of the walk rivalled the Olympic games thanks to Anne leading the way. We made record time to the sumit, the whole trip only took an hour and a half and that was with 2 rest stops.

As you walk over the summit the view is something like a magazine. You walk over a small crest into the crater of the volcano and are greeted by the most amazing turquoise/bluey/greeny water. You expect to see this sort of thing at a tropical island. You walk down to the water's edge and look back at the cliff's all around you and you suddenly feel very insignificant. The water is so clear, there's no or very little organic matter in the water at all so it's got a definate minerally taste to it. And cold too, it did take Jodi a good 5 minutes to get in. After lunch the rest of the group took a boat around a corner where the heat below comes up through the sand/mud in the form of bubbles. Apparently the mud is really good for your skin so they all decided to paint their faces with it. Sounds like something the guides tell everyone just to get a laugh........

We chiled out in the crater for about 2.5 hours before starting the trek back down to the base. As expected the pace was pretty quick with Anne out the front leading the way. Then we all piled into the jeeps for the drive back to the registration area. The drive back felt like it took twice as long as it did in the morning. The novelty of going exploring had definately worn off by now and fatigue was starting to set it. We were definately focused on getting home now and not so much enjoying the beautiful surroundings. One thing that stands out on the way home was John standing up in the back of the Jeep as it drove along. He reminded us of someone in Africa on Safari, surveying the savana for signs of lions and leopards hunting their prey. We're pretty sure he was just standing up to save his backside from being bruised any further.

After stopping in at McDonalds for another meal, we started the 2.5 hour drive back to Manila. It ended up being really good, just chatting away to Neill and Jill the entire trip. By the time we got home we were both rooted and ready for bed. It was well worth it though, recommend it to anyone visiting the Philippines.