Our Retirement Adventure Comes to an End.

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April 1-5 Whitianga - another touch of paradise

Whitianga easily makes it into my top places to visit on this trip. It is a small, touristy beach community that has not yet been wrecked by tourism. We are staying in another YHA hostel, but this one has apartments rather than dorms. We are in a small private apartment with our own ensuite and kitchen whereas most of the others are two bedroom apartments that are shared like small dorms. Not having to share kitchen and lounge space does make for a nice change.
We spent our first full day here going on a 12km hike. We walked the km to the ferry that took us on a quick 5 minute ride across the estuary. From there we started following the bush trails up over the hills (around 60m in height). The views from the top made it well worth the effort. The second hill was called Shakespeare’s Cliff and was named by non other that Capt. James Cook himself because the outline of the cliff reminded him of Shakespeare. The Captain had quite an impact on this country and has left his mark all around NZ. The hike took us to a couple other pretty beaches where we relaxed for a while before walking back to the ferry and then the hostel.
The next day we walked back to the ferry dock and hopped onto Whitianga Adventure’s open boat for a cruise along the coast line. It is amazing how different everything looks from water level verses 60 metres up a hill. Anyways, we cruised from Whitianga through a marine reserve and visited Cathedral Cove. The Cove was used in the Narnia film ‘Prince Casper’ and has a picturesque tear drop shaped tunnel/cave on it. From there we visited one of NZ’s larges sea caves, Orua Cave. This was remarkable because of its size and the volcanic evidence all around it. In fact, the whole coast line is one towering volcanic, pumice and ash, rock formation after another and when the sun catches them right, they glisten a bright white.
By this time a sea squall was starting to take shape off in the distance, and we were getting pounded by the waves. The boat we were in handled them with ease, but the drop from the top of the wave to the bottom gave a pretty good jolt to the stomach. After a quick look at Hot Water Beach, we turned around and simply flew back to the dock. This was a great way to see the coastline and we are both really glad we did it.
Our third day was a little more adventurous than the previous two. Getting up and going before 10 (we are on holiday you know), we rented a couple of mountain bikes and headed out for the day. Again crossing the ferry, we road the 18 kms back out to Hot Water Beach. Now, 18 km at home isn’t too bad, but here in New Zealand they don’t make straight, flat roads. Everything goes up and then thankfully down. Of course, every downhill had to have an uphill - no more needs saying. After about an hour and a half we arrived at the beach. This beach is totally unique because for 2 hours on either side of low tide, there are natural hot springs on the beach. We arrived there during this time frame and wandered through the springs area as people were digging pools in the sand where they could sit and enjoy the hot water. When walking across the sand, I could feel the heat of the springs in several places. I stepped into a couple of the man made pools and they varied in temperate from cold to hot, depending on the proximity to a hot spot. One of the small streams coming out of the sand was so hot that it could burn you if you stood in it too long. Seeing all of this made the 40 km bike ride well worth the effort.
Today, the next day, is a quite one as Darrel and I let our muscles recuperate.

April 6 Back to Auckland in time to reorganize for the trip home.

We have returned to our starting, and ending, point in New Zealand and are both sad to be leaving. We fly out of Auckland early tomorrow morning for a travel time of around 30 hours. The positive is that we are looking forward to seeing everyone at home. These past six months have been even more than I ever dreamed possible. The places we’ve been, the experiences we’ve had, and the things we’ve learned about ourselves and the world, will be with us forever. And on top of this, the people we’ve met and the friends we’ve made will help keep this trip alive and real for a long to come.
I have to thank all of you who followed my blog, and especially those who took the time to comment on it. Knowing that you were reading it, and hopefully enjoying our follies, gave me the incentive to keep the blog regularly updated. You also gave us a little touch of home. All those snow descriptions and pictures made us very glad we were in the sunshine. I think we’ll be pretty close to our goal of no winter this year. So with that I will say bye for now. Hopefully I will be able to start another blog in the near future as we head out on another adventure.
Mom…crank up the heat and put the coffee pot…we are coming home.

Janise and Darrel

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Photos

Whitianga
Taken from top of Shakespeare's Cliff

Whitianga Beach
In front of ourr hostel.

Cliffs
Taken on our ,cruise,

Hiot Water beach
Darrel with our mode of transportation

Comments

[Lynne]

Welcome home
Hi. Just wanted to tell you how much I've enjoyed reading your blog and drooling over your pictures. What an incredible adventure you have had! Thanks for sharing it with all of us - it made for great reading and we got to enjoy it all vicariously!