Our early start did not fool the Enema into forgetting about my lack of honesty from the day before and our journey to the start on the walk involved a lot of low gear crawling and inappropriate use of the handbrake. On arrival at the carpark however I discovered that we had haemorrhaged brake fluid somewhere during the journey, and after explaining to Bob the theory behind and the intricacies of the brake cylinder hydraulic system on newfangled automobiles my manliness was on the line to diagnose the fault. Naturally it took me very little time as the brake fluid squirting for the drivers side front brake hose nearly hit me in the face as I mistakenly asked bob to 'gently' depress the pedal.

Very pleased with myself we started walking through the lush vegetation. We followed an old logging track for the majority of the ascent and the signs showed how the pack ponies used to manage the slick steps carved into the Rock significantly better than I did! After half an hour I was a perspiring mess and we had another 2 hours of steep ascent ahead of us.

Finally we emerged at a plateau under the pinnacles in full sunshine, with forest and steep volcanic plugs surrounding us as far as the eye could see, it was truly breathtaking. We could see the summit but it was still a good climb away.

3 ladders and countless iron staples later we topped out on the pinnacles. It was an exhilarating scramble but the summit was worth it. 360 degree isolation and scenery worthy of filmsets, especially in the baking sun, a real highlight of the trip so far!

We had a slightly surreal experience on the summit as we met Mum and Dad's doppelgängers! 2 GP's from Kent with an uncanny resemblance to the characteristics of my folks, and obviously a similar mindset!

We passed the hut on the way back down and where we had seen only a handful of people on the ascent, our descent was littered with families toiling up the savage ascent in the heat of the midday sun.

We tootled down, very smug with ourselves, completing the 17km 2 day walk in just 5 hours but the real adventure was just about to begin!

I descended the single lane gravel track lined by very solid trees in 'low box' and bob decided quite sensibly to immerse herself in her book and was very tolerant of my sudden changes of direction, tyre juddering around corners and raging at oncoming traffic which tried to run us off the road.

By some miracle we made it to the Tarmac only having to use the handbrake once and other than a small queue of traffic behind us I rolled into the garage celebrating!

The very nice kiwi mechanic agreed with my diagnosis (mini-fist-pump), tracked down a replacement, fitted it and bled the brakes for $100. He also forgot to detach his very expensive magnetic LED work light for which he was very grateful when Bob returned it.

We checked in to a motel lodge as a treat to ourselves and it was worth every cent. We had our own living space where, once cleaned up, we rested our aching limbs and watched the grey clouds swarm in over the bay giving us no guilt about holing up and putting our feet up with the prospect of a queen size bed and sumptuous duvet to look forward to.

We caught up with various busy work whilst simultaneously luxuriating in the warm dry space before eating spag Bol and watching the new hunger games with gin and tonics and a big grin!