Blogs from Coromandel, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania


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paulineanddicknz
April 20th 2012

New Zealand is blessed with numerous incredible beaches. Heading up the west coast of the North Island from Wellington, we discovered a black sand beach in Wanganui that extended into the horizon in both directions. The black sand is one of the remants from volcanic activity. Scattered along the beach are pumice stones and chunks of lava amongst the driftwood. North along the coast is Mount Taranaki - the most recent volcano in this area. In his early days, Sir Edmund Hilary developed his climbing skills on this mountarin. We tramped through the lush rain forest up to and just above the tree line, and that was high enough for us. Mount Taranaki looms over the nearby town of New Plymouth situated along the coast. We were fortunate to be camping close to where the town ... read more




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Sam0007
April 19th 2012

well guys what can i say, New Zealand just keeps producing the goods, from beautiful vistas to grounded down to earth people, Whitianga is nice (very nice) but i dont feel as at home as in Paihia, so thats the place for us, the bike is great as per, the back is knackered so a few days of, bit of kayaking and scuba should sort the back ha ha, it really is paradise, but you have to share paradise, if you see it on your on you might aswell stayed at home and looked at photos Ta Ta for now Sam x... read more




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AndrewK
March 9th 2012

So we are back in New Zealand, after our entertaining diversion to Sydney. First stop was Aukland for just one night. We checked into a 'pod hotel', just to remind us of all those happy nights in the camper van! We had a great meal out with Juan, in an interesting little Spanish restaurant. He showed us parts of the city that are off the normal tourist route. Aukland is far more diverse than other parts of the country, more a typical cosmopolitan capital (even though it isn't). One quarter of the entire country's population live in the city. It still manages though to retain all the friendliness and charm of small-town New Zealand. And that's what we have more of now we have moved, for our final few days here, up onto the Coromandel peninsula. ... read more




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JimJanet40
March 8th 2012

Yesterday we had an amazing time at Hot Water Beach digging our little space and wallowing in the really hot water!! Then went on to explore the east coast Today we have been on the west coast and found a water garden at Rapaura and spent 2 hours wandering round in the rain. Weather has been very changeable and reminded us of wet North Wales... read more




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jawilso
February 16th 2012

The first day I left on my 'Kiwi Experience' I woke up at 7am in order to be ready to catch the bus at 8:20. As if I needed a reminder that traveling in a group can be tedious by the time we had collected everyone and they had gotten their tickets sorted out we didn't leave Auckland till 10:00am. But in the spirit of fairness the first place we stopped in the Coromandel peninsula is called Cathedral Cove and it is the place they filled Narnia. I had no idea it existed until I got there, so I definitely would have missed out if I had been traveling on my own. The hike down to Cathedral Cove took about an hour and then an hour back. Basically it is straight down and back up a ... read more






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Morten and Marianne
February 16th 2012

Så blev det min tur til at få en på opleveren. Sammen med 11 kiwier havde jeg booket en halvdags snapper-fisketur fra Coromandel. Det blev en fantastisk oplevelse, dagskvoten er 9 snappere, og 20 min før tiden udløb, havde jeg fuldt hus og måtte stoppe fiskeriet. Fiskeriet foregår lige opad af de mange kæmpe store muslingefarme, idet muslingerne afgiver ekskrementer som tiltrækker snapperne. Der er strenge krav i New Zealand, f.eks. koster det 250 NZD, hvis ikke snapperen minimum er min 28 cm lang. Kiwierne siger faktisk, at fiskeri kontrollen i dag, er mere magtfuld end politiet, så det var med at overholde reglerne. Det skal bruges kæmpe stykker med madding, som sættes på en kanske speciel måde, som jeg fik lært via en dvd, som tilfældigvis var i det hus vi lejede i Pohara. Det ... read more




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Morten and Marianne
February 15th 2012

14/2: Papamoa Beach – Coromandel Vi fik heldigvis lov til at vente med at tjekke ud af vores dejlige hytte indtil kl. 11. Det var svært at forlade den terapi-virkende udsigt, men afsted skulle. Vi skulle hente Morten i Tauranga Airport kl. 14.40, så indtil da havde vi tid til at opleve Tauranga, som er en forholdvis stor by. Vi fik set marinaen, industrihavnen og kigget (lidt mere) butikker. Pappa ville rigtig gerne spise forkost på Burger King, så det gjorde vi. Herfter tog vi ud i den lille lufthavn. Her nød vi en kop kaffe, mens vi ventede på Mortens fly. Vi kunne stort set stå på landingsbanen. Da Morten kom ud af flyet, stod vi og vinkede som om vi ikke havde set hinanden i 100 år. Prikken over i-et havde været, hvis vi ... read more




Thames... Time to relax.

Published: January 5th 2012Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Coromandel » Thames
Sebbro icon
Sebbro
January 4th 2012

Bon bien me voici à Thames situé dans la péninsule de Coromandel.. 6 heures d'autobus depuis Pahia hier. Mais sur la route les paysages sont magnifiques, alors c'est plutôt plaisant de se déplacer ainsi. Pour ma dernière journée à Pahia j'ai visité Waitingi, l'endroit ou un important traité à été signé avec les Maori. Le site est magnifique. De cet endroit c'était le point de départ d'une belle marche de 10 km (allez-retour) pour les Haruru Falls. Les chutes sont plutôt décevantes, mais c'était la seule récompense rendu au bout du sentier. Mais la marche à travers la forêt et la mangrove valait la peine. Aucunes de mes photos peuvent rendre justice à la beauté de cette forêt. Le vacarme assourdissant des insectes et des oiseaux auraient suffit pour rendre ce trajet intéressant pour un aveugle. ... read more




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Antuanicus
December 28th 2011

Simona woke me up at 7:30am. We walked to the bus stop. Didn't see Joao. Went to check on him at 8:15 since bus leaves at 8:30. Homeboy was still knocked out on his bed with his mouth open. I woke him up and told him what time it was. Dude looked completely confused. Don't think he had time to brush his teeth. Told him not to get too close when he talks to me that day. We hopped on bus to Hot Water Beach Campsite in Coromandel. There were 26 people on that bus. We all introduced ourselves. Started to have trouble remembering names. Bus driver Andy called ahead and checked us into our cabins. The campsite was amazingly beautiful. By far, the nicest hostel I've ever been in. I shared a cabin with Joao, ... read more




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TeamJD
December 22nd 2011

In the morning, we visited Hot Water Beach and enjoyed sitting around in the termal water pools. We couldn't leave without paying a visit to the fantastic Moko Artspace which sells art/sculpure/jewellery etc by local artists. We gave a couple of German hitchhikers a ride back to Hahei (90% of the travellers we met are from Germany!) before taking the ferry over to Whitianga. This lovely little town is full of quirky shops and cafés, so we spent most of the afternoon exploring. Later, we visited Cook's Beach and North Beach - but it was a bit too cold to swim in the sea!... read more









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