Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
MOUNTAIN CLIMBING MADNESS!
From Kinabatangan we headed to the rather dreary town of Sandakan with the intention of taking a boat out to stay on Turtle Island where turtles come ashore every night to lay their eggs. Unfortunately our idea fell flat when we found out just how expensive the resort accommodation is on the island so instead we took a cheap Air Asia flight (woohoo no barf-bus) back to Kota Kinabalu to do some diving for half the price.
We spent the day diving three different reefs within the Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park. We got to see some stunning fish (spotted stingrays, batfish, barracuda, clown fish, etc.), magnificent corals and to top it off, just as we were ready to surface from our final dive, a huge Hawksbill turtle swam right beside us.
The following day we headed east to Mount Kinabalu National Park to prepare for our climb. We stayed in a quaint little rest-house a few hundred metres from the park gate and were up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed the next morning to begin our ascent. The forest was lush and green and at times it felt like we were tramping on a track back home in New Zealand. It was a bit of a grind to the hut, straight up, traipsing over tangled roots and uneven steps but fortunately we got there relatively early and missed the torrential afternoon rain. We stayed in a dorm perched 3270m high up on the mountain and were up at 2am to begin our night ascent of the highest peak in South East Asia.
It was only 3 hours up to the top from the lodge but those 3 hours were pretty gruelling; hauling our bodies up the cold, wet ropes and dragging our tired legs across the steep granite slabs. We managed to arrive at the top earlier than expected but this unfortunately meant shivering on the summit for an hour until sunrise - the spectacular views were worth it though!
As the sun rose we began to head back down the slopes, beating the crowd so we could take our time going down the slippery ropes. From the first step, my knee was screaming at me to stop which made for a particularly difficult descent. After a short stop for breakfast back at Laban Rata Lodge we continued on down the mountain but by this stage my knee had completely ceased up and it was 'struggle.com' for me the entire way down. I even had to rely on a 'Nana-stick' to help take the weight off and get me to the bottom of the "steps from hell"! All things considered we made it down to the bottom in surprisingly good time and after shuffling to the reception to collect our finishing certificates, we got in a taxi and slept the entire way back to Kota Kinabalu.
Not keen on braving the stairs down to the lobby of the hotel, I spent my last day in Sabah resting inside our hotel room and icing my gammy knee. Joel on the other hand was prepared to give the stairs a go if it meant being able to find a bar that was showing the All Blacks test against France (incidentally NZ won, Joel drank beer and I finished a good book - all is well in the world!).
I did manage to haul my aching legs out of the hotel later that evening for a final catch up with the Pedersen Family (Aileen, Claus, Bryan and Ian) at a very tasty local restaurant and we were even further treated to the most delicious homemade lemon cheesecake back at their family home. Seriously one of the nicest families we've met on our travels!
High: Looking down on the world below from the summit of the highest mountain in South East Asia!
Low: Two days on we are still hobbling around like senior citizens - our legs are in pieces! I almost hugged the receptionist when we checked into our hotel in Kuala Lumpur and saw there was an elevator.
- comments