Blogs from Coromandel, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 9

Coromandel Town. Walked around town. Really quaint old gold-rush style buildings. Gold rush town mid-1800's. Gold mining exhibition here and rock battery. Waterworks. Lots of arty, creative people here. Main street in town has loads of Galleries. Met a Tom Bombadilesque character with other 60 boars as pets on way out to see the waterworks park. Intelligent fella even though he obviously hadn't had a shower in years. Lived in a hut with the pigs.... read more

Geo: -36.7549, 175.502Maandag 21 februariVanochtend zijn we na het ontbijt vertrokken uit Rotorua naar Te Puke aan de oostkust van het Noordereiland. We hadden daar een schitterende blauwe hemel, het was er al 27 graden. Te Puke is het centrum van de kiwiteelt (en we spreken hier over het fruit, niet over de vogel). In kiwi360 hebben we een rondleiding gekregen en informatie over de teelt van kiwi's. Nu begrijpen we ook waarom we hier in de supermarkten op dit ogenblik Italiaanse kiwi's vinden. Ze worden pas geoogst in april,mei,juni. Ze kunnen wel lang bewaard worden op lage temperatuur, maar die van de voorraad van vorig jaar zijn nu niet meer zo lekker vers. In het winkeltje vind je allerlei afgeleide producten zoals kiwizeep, kiwi lipbalsem, kiwi snoepjes, kiwi-wijn, ... Daarna zijn we verder Noordwaarts gereden ... read more

8 February 2011 We would have liked to linger a little longer in Taupo however we have a plan and that involved once again moving on. Today we were headed in the direction of the Bay of Plenty (named by Captain Cook who, apparently, noticed how abundant the local area was) where we planned to stay at one of two DOC campsites that we had pinpointed. First stop however was Rotorua. Because we both have a childish sense of humour, we were quite some distance from the town when we both started asking if the other could smell rotten eggs. Rotten eggs? Well, Rotorua is home to the most active geothermal area in New Zealand. Think hot springs, geysers, mud pools and sulphur - giving the air that unmistakable tang of rotten eggs. It is ... read more

Finally some sun!We bought body boards so we could make the most of the surf. The waves were massive, 5 to 6 feet. The water was clear, the sky was blue and the sand was hot hot hot! The next day we went to see "Marths's Mine", a gold mine that used to be underground tunnels but is now a big open cast mine. When they have finished mining they will fill it up with water to make a swimming/boating lake, it will take many years to fill.... read more

After another quick stop over in Auckland we headed south to Whitianga (pronounced Fitianga, Wh is pronounced as a F in Maori, there is a place named Whakapapa but we'll get to that later). Here we headed to the beautiful Coromandel Peninsula to visit Catherdral Cove Marine Reserve which can only be accessed by foot or by kayak which explains why the scenery was so incredible. We spend the entire day completing the trail walks along the white sandy beaches, coastal walkways and rugged cliffs. The next morning we visited the beach at Mercury Bay where you can dig your own hot pools and we did just that. The reservoir of water stems from heated water underground from a nearby volcano, when the tide is low you can rent a spade and start digging then take ... read more