Thames

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Hello all. So I was going to post yesterday, but I only get 30 min for 2 NZ dollars, and my computer turned off, so that is counter productive for what I wanted.
Anyway, we are currently in Thames which is just south east of Auckland by about 2 1/2 hours. The area is called Coromandel Peninsula and it is absolutely beautiful! We drove about 3 hours up and down the coast yesterday which, by coast I literally mean right on the edge of the water. Spray from the ocean was actually hitting our windshield at times.
Today we hiked about 5 hours, almost getting to Pinnacles, which is pretty literal as the name suggests. It is one of the highest points in the area. There are many of these pinnacles and they are basically lava that has hardened inside a volcano, and the mountainous part of the volcano has eroded away, leaving a large circular outcropping. Very cool.
The hike was probably one of the best I have ever done. Seriously. We got to walk through the most lush forest I have ever been in and the most moist. If you looked off the path you would see many mountain ranges through sheets of rain that were coming down in gusts of wind. Luckily for us though we were below the tree line and hugging the mountain, so we didn't get too wet.
My time is just about up so I gotta go. I'll be able to post more once I get into Rotorua tomorrow. Oh yeah and I can't post pictures on this computer if you were wondering. It was probably made in 1998. Soo, last century.

Daniel

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Photos

A waterfall of course
I took this in the Coromandel region, just north of Thames. The waterfall was right off the road.

A pinnacle!
One of the Pinnacles I was talking about in the blog. The winds were probably around 50 MPH near the pinnacle, with sheets of rain coming down. It was AMAZING!

The sun setting
This is in Thames right outside our hostel. Pretty self explanatory as to what you are seeing :)