C-c-c-cold Coromandel

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Monday

We finally left Auckland at about 2.30 on Monday, having spent the morning packing, tidying Kenny and Luke's house, doing laundry etc. We managed to miss the afternoon rush hour by about 30 minutes (phew!) and headed for the Coromandel. It only took about an hour and a half to get to our first destination - Thames, the main town in the Coromandel. It was getting to the end of the afternoon so we decided to spend the night in Thames rather than drive up the windy twisty road to Coromandel town in the dark. We booked into a backpackers (didn't fancy pitching the tent in the dark either...), which was very comfy but odd because we were the only ones there. On the bright side we had the kitchen to ourselves and cooked our very first meal on the road - chicken and pasta - yum!

After dinner we headed out to explore the town - it was absolutley dead - but we stumbled upon the cinema, where the Hitchhikers Guide was about to start, so we went in to see it and to escape from the cold evening. It was great - I highly recommend it!

Tuesday

We got up early and headed to the Kauaeranga Valley - a wooded hilly forest park where they used to log Kauri trees before they realised that there would be none left if they didn't stop soon. We did a couple of nice wee walks, including one with a swing bridge - the highlight of the morning!

We headed north to Coromandel town after lunch but there wasn't a lot to keep us there so headed to the east coast of the Coromandel to a town called Whitianga. We had planned to camp, but didn't like the look of either of the camp sites ('A local camp site for local people') so found the YHA backpackers which turned out to be lovely. While we were sitting in the car deliberating over where to stay a car pulled up behind us, the woman got out and came over to the window. When I wound it down she said "would you mind telling me what you think you're doing?". "looking for somewhere to stay" said I. "By driving into our holiday parks then driving out again?" she says... Turned out she owns one of the camp sites we looked at, didn't like the fact that we drove in and then out again (seriously it was the weirdest camp site either of us have ever seen), so she took down our number plate and followed us round the town. What a nice welcome to her town!! Eventually we just said "Thanks, we won't come into your campsite again" and wound the window up to get rid of her... Graeme swore he could hear banjos playing in the background!!

Wednesday

Despite a nice night in a nice hostel we weren't keen to stay in Whitianga, so this morning we drove round the coast to a wee place called Hahei. We were headed for Cathedral Cove - a gorgeous bay with beautiful scenery and a big blow-hole in the cliffs that is like the vaulted ceiling of a cathedral. It was a lovely walk round the cliffs to the cove and luckily it had warmed up and the sun was shining.

After a picnic lunch we got back in the car to Hot Water Beach. Believe it or not, Hot Water Beach is a beach where, a couple of hours either side of low tide, you can dig into the sand and get hot water pools. It was fab!! We got there a bit after the time when it's safe to dig and another couple were just leaving, so we used their pool instead of digging our own :-) It was like our own spa on the beach, and the water was REALLY hot. Some people were having to add water from the sea to make their pools bearable. What a brilliant way to spend an hour or two!

Now we're in the internet cafe before going to get fish and chips for tea. Well, when you're by the sea what else should you eat! We're camping tonight - keep your fingers crossed for us that it doesn't rain!

See you soon

Jo and Graeme x

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Photos

Me at Cathedral Cove
You can walk through the blow-hole to a beach on the other side of it, but the tide wasn't quite low enough to do without getting your feet wet so we didn't.

Graeme on the swing bridge
Only one person was allowed on at a time so we had great fun bouncing it when the other one was on. Our middle names are Tigger!

The view to Hahei beach from the walk to Cathedral Cove
With a friendly sea-gull in the foreground - they're everywhere!

At Cathedral Cove
There are all these funny rocks in the water at the cove.

Hot Water Beach
There were lots of people digging and sitting in hot pools.

Comments

[anonymous]

Hello Australia
I have enjoyed reading all your journals and am looking forward to the next lot especially when you are at Norma's Please take a good few photo's at Norma's The wedding pictures were very nice to see. This is a fantastic way to keep up to date and in touch Enjoy your next stage of your travels Love Muriel - [e-mail]