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Published: March 30th 2006
Godfrey!
This is the magic Godfrey who's an absolute star of a car! The names perfect for him as he looks like an old man (and runs like one too!)All packed up and in Godfrey ready and raring, we started to drive out of Auckland but then we suddenly realised Jon and I didn't actually have a tent and none of us had food! We managed to get a tent in a shop here called Warehouse ("where everyone gets a bargin") and what a beauty she is. 15 Bucks and thats exactly what shes worth! The camoflage material earnt her the name G.I.Jane, we then was ready to find out is she was worthy of it! The big hole in the side might have been the reason for the cheapness but thanks to my Nans very handy little sewing kit, I knew we'd be fine.
We headed off form Auckland eventually towards the Coromandel Peninsula. It was sunset as we were driving up and the scenery was breathtaking. The sea was so calm, every reflection was as clear as day. We drove up to a DOC campsite called Fantail Bay. DOC sites are run by the government and you pay in Honesty boxes, wel its lucky none of us are honest or we'd have spent a fortune! Wel, we are poor bugeting backpackers! Unfortunately, we didn't make it to
the site til after dark so G.I.Jane's first initiation test happened. She passed with flying colours as the tents stayed up all night and there was only a slight sag in the middle!
In the morning after packing up, we drove to Coromandel Town to get some lunch. It was a real quirky little place and defiantely had small town sydrome but everyone there was really friendly, especially when we returned a hour after leaving as Ben had left his bag in the post office with everything, camera, wallet, phone, passport etc included!
We got to Hot Water Beach which is this amazing little beach where a hour either side of low tide you can dig a hole in the sand and it fills with thermal heated water. Im going to completely admit that we didn't end up digging our own hole as the tide wouldn't go out far enough. Instead we watched so guys working really hard and dug a massive hole with protective walls. They only stayed about 10 minutes so, not one pass up an opportunity, we all jumped in. Such a weird feeling, as the sea water came over the top and was freezing
G.I.Jane
This is her in all her glory! Well, she was keeping us dry but maybe not warm! the boiling hot water came up from underneath! It was like sitting in a hot tub while looking out to sea, watching the surfers. After a nice cold shower we headed off to our next DOC campsite in the Kauaerangi Vally and again, set up in the dark. We build a big fire as its was so cold and ate a delicious meal of Eggy Bread and beans! True campers through and through! The next morning we woke up to realise there was absolutly nobody around, we were surrounded be forest covered hills and just by a steam. So with Ben's presuasive techniques, he managed to get us to go for a swim. I cannot describe how cold it was but was also so beautiful which made up for it. We then went back to the tents to pack up which was then the point i was introduced to Sandflys!! They are the root of all evil, we all got bitten so many times on our feet as we were just wearing Flip-Flops. They didn't really itch but Ben had had encounters before and warned that the next morning we'd feel it! Couldn't wait!
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