Advertisement
Published: January 11th 2007
Having officially 'done' the Northland we headed west to the Coromandel Penninsula for New Years Eve. We had been warned against this by a friendly kiwi who said it was underage party hell on NYE but a plan's a plan!
We stopped in the main town of Thames on the way up the penninsula. This was just ok so after the by now two vital stops of internet and the pie shop we were ready to carry on up the beautiful coastal road. We spent a night in Coromandel town which is a really quaint little place and had an inadvertant pub crawl sampling local brews - it is NYE after all. The drive to the very top of the penninsula on NYE itself was amazing. It was a two hour drive on what the Goddard family fondly refer to as a 'dusty track' which was good fun. The views from this road are stunning, right across towards Auckland.
We arrived at Fletcher Bay camp site (a much more rural affair we were glad to see) and decided to take a more sedate look at the views. We took a hike across the top of the penninsula. The weather
was blinding and you can just look at the photos to see how great the views were.
For NYE evening we had treated ourselves to a disposable BBQ and a couple of steaks. We had a few of those luscious Cottle Hill wines to get through too! All was going very well until a sudden downpour. We couldn't put up the shopping bag in the rain so resorted to eating in the bus. Luckily the weather cleared for midnight and clutching our champers we headed for the beach. The owner of the campsite had set up a huge bonfire and there were fire dancers and some fire works. It was an amazing way to see in 2007 and we really felt that we had taken part in a proper kiwi party. Made all the more kiwi by two small girls asking Paul if he fancied taking part in the flaming arseholes competition! If you don't know how to play - ask a rugby player! We were so glad not to have been talked out of visiting this beautiful part of the world.
New Years day was to be our last on the Coromandel Penninsula which was a shame.
We drove back along the dusty track and then a few more. Lets just say, Vicki, dusty tracks and hangovers don't go! We rested up for a bit in a place called Hot Water Beach, so named for the fact that at low tide you can dig a hole in the sand which fills with hot water you can then sit in. It turns out that this is only the case on a very small, very crowded part of the beach but it was worth a quick paddle. After a marathon driving day we reached Rotorua, NZs most famous thermal town.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.205s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 17; qc: 66; dbt: 0.129s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
John
non-member comment
Competition
Ahh, but did Paul take part? - I still carry the scars of such a competition held in the Aber students' common room in 1952 - these things can very easily get out of control after a scrumpy drinking session.