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Published: December 4th 2007
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Coromandels Nov 16 - 21
Our vacation up north to Kuaotunu in the Coromandel Peninsula started off with a great surprise for Grace. My brother, Steve and his wife Jane came over for a two week visit and brought a surprise package in the form of Jordan Smith (Grace's bff). It was a surprise for both girls. Jordan found out she was coming to New Zealand on the morning of her flight. Instead of being dropped off at school, she was dropped off at the airport! Grace found out Jordan was here when she walked into the house we rented and opened a duffle bag filled with a "surprise" from Uncle Steve. When Jordan popped out, Grace's face went through a range of emotions like I have never seen - panic, disbelief, joy, and tears of happiness. It was a great way to start off the week in the Coromandels. Just Paradise was the name of the house we rented and it truly lived up to its name. Situated on a hilltop at Rings Beach, it gave us panoramic views of the sea. We spent most of each day outdoors, visiting Cathedral Cove, hiking to waterfalls, shelling on the beach
Bluffs Rd to Ring's Beach
Judging by the sign, it looks like they were expecting us. But how did they know? and enjoying mass quantities of cheese dip. The only drawback to going anywhere, apart from leaving the great house and pool, was enduring the drive on the winding roads. I should mention that we traded in our little car for a 10 passenger van which will send you reeling if you sit in the very back seat! (Mark - The van is long and narrow and somewhat tipsy. The roads are similar to Arkansas mountain roads like the Pig trail on the way to Fayetteville, but fewer guard rails. In addition these are the good roads, so they are shared with logging trucks pulling two trailers. I was voted out of the driver’s seat by Jordan and Grace. It seems they blamed my driving for making them car sick.) The guys took a fishing trip and Ben was lucky in catching a 15 lb. Red Snapper - a record for his guide. It supplied us with a fantastic bbq dinner. The story is that the guys all had "big ones" on the line but they got away. (Mark - The fishing trip began from Tairua. We had to wait for the tide to come up as we needed to cross
View of Ring's Beach from Bedroom at Just Paradise
There are good views nearly from every room at this elevated home. a bar at the entrance of the harbour. While waiting the guide took us further south to a town of vacation homes named Pauanui. This is where some of the beautiful people while away their sleepy summertime. One house had a helicopter pad with an adjacent hanger. We all agreed that it seems to be a practical way to travel in NZ, if you have the means. After the tour, we studied our entrance across the bar. Our guide would drive up to the breaking surf, retreat, put on a life jacket, go back, watch a few boats pass, retreat, take off his life jacket and put on a bigger one, go back and retreat. It seemed to take forever. Then he announced “let’s go” and accelerated. We nosed into the waves and dropped off the back of them with a bang each time. Once, I got airborne. It was great fun, and no one suffered any injuries. We fished with soft baits and got several strikes. The snappers were harder to catch than we thought they would be. Any slack in the line, and off they would go. Steve caught two small kingfish. I caught a kingfish and a
barracuda - nothing worth keeping. The guide told us that snappers of the size Ben landed are between 30 and 40 years of age. This briefly made all of us sad, and surely acknowledges the great skill of the fisherman. Once filleted, our sadness diminished. It was quite tasty.) All of us actually saw the big ones a few days later on a cruise out to the Marine Reserve. Our cruise guide, Rob, took us by dingy from the pretty harbour of Whitianga out to several rock formations and beaches, and out through the open water to search for orcas and blue penguin. The little blue penguin we found, but the orcas didn't come in for us. We were told later that they have come into the harbour for the last 3 years on New Year's Day to feed on stingrays. Further down the coast, he drove the dingy deep into a cave that he visited as a boy with his father. It was pretty cool and reminded us of a open mouth with the big uvula hanging down in back. He played Pink Floyd over the stereo as we entered. That, along with the darkness and the black water
surrounding us, made it a really creepy experience. Grace was less than enthused to be in there and even less happy when someone mentioned it was a shark cave. At this point in the cruise, Rob usually takes out musical instruments and plays them in the cave for the feedback effect. However, since the tide was coming in, he thought it best to move on to another spot. Back out in the sunshine, we headed for Whitianga harbour and a demonstration of the various musical instruments and their effects when played in the high walled cove. Jordan mastered the conch shell - the Maori used it to signal attacks. Ben was a natural on the didgeridoo. The rest of us made a lot of noise with banging sticks.
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