Blogs from Coromandel, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 28

As capital cities go, Wellington isn't a bad place to spend a day or so, even for a couple of metropophobes like us! We spent a long time in Te Papa, the national museum on the waterfront with really interesting displays and interactive stuff on natural and cultural history (sadly the 'shear a blow-up sheep using bar codes' feature had been removed since 2001. The sheep may have popped!). We had also got tickets for the Super 14 rugby match between the Hurricanes (Wellingtons team) and the Crusaders. A great match and a good atmosphere in the 35000 seater stadium. Even though the 'Canes lost 20-13 everyone was very good natured about it as we poured back into the city centre pubs. Heading north, wet weather and low cloud put us off walking in the Tararua ... read more

How you goin?! Tauranga had a pretty little town but not much else, so we stayed just one night here. The following day we continued onto Matamata or 'Hobbiton' as it has been known just 30 mins from tauranga. This is where the lord of the rings, hobbit set was filmed - 'The shire'. But it cost an absolute fortune to go on and most of it had been taken apart, so all that was left was empty shells! So we gave it a miss. As Matamata is a small town (Also still pretty), we thought we would carry onto to Hamilton, that afternoon. Hamilton seemed like a really nice town, with some really nice areas to shop, while we were there, the V8 super car race was due to start on the friday and we ... read more

Hiya; I'm pleased the photos worked, getting to grips with all this techie stuff! So, The Magic Bus swept me from Pahia on the east coast of the Northland to the Hokianga harbour region on the west; from the tiny village of Rawene across the harbour by dear old ferry to Kohukohu, where I was collected by my next hostel host, Phil. We called into the village for a few locally grown supplies briefly before heading the 6km back to the Tree House hostel, where I had a cabin all to myself, wonderful after sharing a 7-bed dorm for 4 days in Pahia. Now I was completely in the sticks, or the bush they call it here. Isolated and surrounded by beautiful native trees and bush, I certainly didn't complain about a bit of rain here; ... read more

My time in New Zealand is sadly over, but having heard so many great things about the Coromandel Pennisula, I made sure to fit in a visit before I left the country. With only 4 days remaining I took a ferry from Auckland to Coromandel Town and organized a day to hike the Cormandel Walkway, which is at the tip of the pennisula and goes from Fletcher Bay to Stony Bay. I wish I could post all of my photos here, it was absolutely beautiful. I was fortunate to have nice weather and a lovely English couple to walk with. Along the walk we stopped at a little bay for lunch and decided to search for some shells. I found a beautiful cat's eye shell and then became obsessed with finding more just like it. I'm ... read more

Matt Writes: 7am and we are off along a dirt road, following a creek. The canopy is dusted with sunlight as we cross the Coromandel Range and its corresponding forest park. Our destination, the idylic beach of Hahei, where we prepare a great breakfast of cereal, bacon sarnies, fruit and tea. I can't help but notice the envious glares of the 4 surfers cramped into an estate (probably where they had spent the night). Enjoying the warmth of the rising sun we watch early morning dippers out for a swim before work, a jogger writing footprints the length of the bay and dogs stretching their legs with yappy conversation along the way. A quick dip and muck about on the golden sands and off to some local shops where we pick up some info on a ... read more