Travelling south a little

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Wednesday morning started with the short walk as far as Whangarei Falls which are fantastic at 9am with noone in sight and having just woken up! We then had a bit of a drive ahead of us with the planned break at Goat's Island a little snorkling in a marine reserve. The weather varied while we were out there from bright sunshine to proper rain but it doesn't really matter as much when you are as wet as we were! The fish were fairly pretty but not the really bright exotic types as the water is too cold (Andy's lips were blue by the time we finished!) It was a really nice little spot with a pretty beach and hardly any people!

From there we had a bit of a long drive as far as Thames on the Coromandel Penisula. We got there a little late for the 7 hour walk to the hut as we only had 2 hours of light left but funnily enough we decided to give it a go as we reconed that they always overestimate the times and if we ran we might make it most of the way. Given that Andy told me we weren't going to be training on this holiday this felt remarkably like training to me! Although we were soaked by the time we got back it was well worth it. We ran/climbed/walked for just over an hour on the way up and stopped just short of the hut when it began hailstoning! The rocks there are really amazing - apparently they were originally the centre of volcanoes but then the outter of the volcanoes eroded just leaving the plugs (does that make sense?) Well it meant that they really stood out in the surroundings.

We stayed in the Backpackers hostel in Thames that night and were both pretty tired.

Thursday morning was another early start (that is around 9!) We drove up to route 309 which had a cool waterfall and some Kauri groves. The Kauri trees weren't as big as the ones in Waipoura but they were grouped together and stood out quite clearly against the rest of the forest and it really gave a sense of their dominance.

We travelled on as far as Hahei beach where we had hoped to go sea kayaking but the wind was a bit high even though the sun was out and there were no trips running. Instead we did an inflatable speedboat trip around cathedral cove and down as far as hot water beach stopping in lots of little caves along the way and in a bay to see some seals (only one turned up!). The scenery there is spectacular - I would rate it much more highly than the bay of islands where we were on Tuesday.

Our plans changed a bit in the afternoon as our hire car broke down. As I write it is being fixed and we are heading to Waitomo this evening to go black water rafting tomorrow (don't worry mom - by the time you read this I'll be back out of the caves safe!)

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