Lovely Coromandel Peninsula

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We are getting close to Auckland… feeling the end of the trip in NZ getting closer. But still we have some more to see. The last two days we spent in an area called Coromandel peninsula. Again there are beautiful beaches in one side of the road and green hills on the other side. It is not amazing like in the beginning but I still enjoy it a lot. It’s so relaxing. We are tired of hiking and even though we planned one last hike, when we discovered it was longer than we thought we gave it up. A hike of 45 minutes (return) to the cathedral cove seems enough - and also very rewarding, as you can see in the pictures.
We also took a ride in a narrow gauge train, which was funny and also took us higher to more lookouts to the lovely view. After that we drove all the way to the edge of the peninsula, where the beaches are really isolated and quite deserted.
In the last day we also went to a butterly and Orchids garden, that wasn't as impressive as in other places I have seen (e.g. Germany) but was still nice, and it's a project of a caravan park owner, which is really nice. One butterfly type is called Atlas... it seems I wouldn't be able tp ignore my work here :-)

In the HIT in Thames - suddenly I meet familiar people. Half of the group from Mount Cook, Liron, Esti and Roy are staying with us for 2 nights. It’s fun to meet them again!

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Photos

Sunset (over Oakland)
But you see Auckland only if you look carefully. It was fun to see it suddenly

More sunset
The west side of Coromandel enjoys great sunsets everyday, and they chaneg all the time

Another sunset - the next day
The west side of Coromandel enjoys great sunsets everyday, and they chaneg all the time

Butterfly garden in Thames
This is Atlas butterfly

And look at this butterfly
Amazign camouflage