Blogs from Whakatane, Bay of Plenty, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 6

Dear all, some more great time was had here in New Zealand, especially since the weather has changed for the better. From the Bay of Islands and its gorgeous endless beaches, impressive kauri trees (and rain) we moved to the Coromandel peninsula with more gorgeous beaches, more kauri trees and sunny weather, what more to ask for! We first headed through Thames and up the West side of the peninsula before crossing to the East coast, over mountains, past ragged ridges and along tortuous roads. First stop - see pictures, Rapaura gardens and waterfall. Still a bit wet but great stop for food afterwards! Then onto Hahei and its hot water beach and Cathedral Cove Walk. We missed on the hot water but got lucky at the walk: saw 2 orcas barely 3 metres away from ... read more

On wednesday, we drove north up through Gisbourne to Tokomaro Bay on the spectacular east cost. The drive took us most of the day but as it was raining solidly this was fine. The next morning the weather was a little better, although it had rained all night, and we walked to Cook's Cove (where Captain Cook first landed in NZ) through the boggiest marshes and marshiest bogs imaginable. Despite Tim managing to fall over twice (first in the mud, secondly in something the sheep had left as an amusing joke) and having to spend the rest of the day in shorts and sandals (all other clothes being quarantined in thick plastic bags in the boot) we managed to maintain high spirits - even when, later in the day, no-one turned up to let us in ... read more

One of the best (and scary) tours on NZ is to the active volcano on White Island. We planned to visit there on Sunday, the weather looked good, we boarded the boat and were cruising for an hour when the captain told us that the winds got to strong and we wouldn't be able to land on the island. Disappointed we cruised all the way back to Whakatane. Well, at least this time we didn't walk, didn't get wet... but again we missed a volcano :-) We tried again 2 days after that. The weather was still not clear and the decision was to be taken only at 8AM. We stayed at a place that is 3 hours away from Whakatane and we woke up at 5:30, drove for 2 hours and then called to discover ... read more