Blogs from Whitianga, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania

20th November Woke up about 6, opened the van door, as it does get a bit steamed up at night. Carried on dozing while listening to the waves and the dawn chorus. Woke up proper about 7ish. Headed to the kitchen to make tea and toast I decided would try having a bigger breakfast to see if I could ward of hunger pangs mid morning. Breakfast was avocado on toast plus a bowl of cereal. Sorted the van out, headed to the kitchen to wash up and had a shower all ready to leave by 9.20. Pretty good going I thought. Carried on my journey south towards Opotiki, on the way I saw a sign for a regional park at Ohiwa and took a right turn, sat nav was not happy that I had deviated from ... read more

Hi all still got wifi, been great day, went across the bay on the ferry for a walk to cooks bay ( where captain Cook first landed ), it was a Good walk on the way back we stopped at a wacky coffee house called the eggssentric, and the owner was just that.Went to The Lost Spring of whitianga, they are natural hot spring water temps are between 32 degrees and 42 degrees, spent most of the afternoon in the spar waters, then had a really good meal after. If you get up to the Coromandel you should spend some time in the spar pools.... read more

As we approach the end of our trip and try get our minds firmly set on Christmas we have opted to stay in an apartment in Whitiang, on the Coromandel Peninsular. This is within relatively close distance from Auckland and our flight home. And what a place we have chosen - overlooking Mercury Bay and the Pacific in which we had a little dip today. When we arrived yesterday from Rotorua it looked as though it might rain. And it did! Not quite what we had expected, even though the temperature was still in the early 20's. The sky stayed grey for most of the evening and the prospects for today were not good. Hurricane Evan that caused such havoc in Fiji last week was said to be the cause and that it would be wet ... read more

Kiwilästä Lähtö ausseista ei sujunu parhaalla tavalla. Eka vollotettiin, että joudutaan lähteen, mutta sitten käsimatkataroitten läpivalasussa parku vaste ratkes, kun oltiin huolimattomuuksissamme jätetty kynsisakset, parturisakset ja liikanesteitä reppuun. Parturisakset oli halvat markettiversiot eikä tuottanut kyyneleitä. Fiskarssin kynsisakset, jotka isältä pojalle hengessä kulkenut tiäs kuinka kauan matkassa (mun matkaan ne tarttu kotoo muutettaessa, mutta ne oli kotona ollu niin kauan, kun muistan). No nyt ne jatko tarinaansa happaman näkösen virkailijan näppeihin. Toivottavasti joku saa ne lentokentän pikkujouluarvonnoista vielä käyttöönsä. Lindan kasvosaippua jäi kans arvontapalkinnoks. Kaikki nää merkit näytti siltä, ettei meidän haluttu poistuvan australiasta. Linda otti kolmen tunnin nokoset koneessa ja ite kattelin leffan. Löydettiin hyvin Aucklandin keskustaan, jossa me... read more

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 ... read more