Back in early April during the big Easter vacation, I traveled to Gisbon to deliver a long-promised gift from Russia. As entertainment on the second day we went to the hot springs of Morere, where besides the springs there are several trails in the wildest New Zealand forest, of varying degrees of difficulty, with a climb of about 280 meters.

001 - The road to the trails is quite civilized.

002 - Several routes with varying levels of difficulty.

003 - No easy paths for us, choosing the longest and hardest route.

004 - Off we go!

005 - Calibrated myself with the red marker, placed throughout the trail.

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008 - Fallen leaves from palm trees o_O.

009 - Some kind of pygmy.

010 - Critical areas have stairs, but I still went off-road.

011 - A hole cut in a fallen tree for passage.

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020 - No avoiding the stairs here.

021 - Some kind of berries.

022

023 - More berries.

024 - The stairs totally impressed me.

025 - A mega fern didn’t fit in the frame.

026 - The steepness of the climb.

027 - Totally insane!

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030 - Finally reached the bottom where a stream flows.

031 - No sunlight through the leaves, everything covered in moss, humidity probably 99%.

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037 - Parasitic plants.

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040 - A palm leaf fell… the sheer number and size of these leaves was unnerving.

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043 - An entire palm tree toppled over here.

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047 - Underground hot springs.

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049 - Dangerous boulders.

050 - The body of a fallen palm.

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052

053 - And that’s the end of the story.