Beach Hop

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We had a great time along the coast. We came across many rainbows, took a round of golf in Tauranga, and slept beside a kiwi orchard! We even gathered some fallen kiwis off the ground for a snack.

We stumbled across "Beach Hop 2008" when we pulled into a town to 'skip to the loo'. There were cars lining every street and we knew something was up so made our way toward the crowds. It was a big celebration of the 50's and 60's with a large car show, sock hop dance competition, numerous vendors, and four live stages. There were thousands of people to watch. We stayed a few hours before continuing on our way.

We stopped at the infamous Hot Water Beach which has springs flowing up from underground. At low tide you can walk out and dig a hole to sit in and it fills up with hot spring water. Unfortunately our timing was way off and we missed low tide. We didn't stick around for the late late night tide but enjoyed the nice beach instead.

It became quite rainy so we spent our time in the town of Coromandel in a neat cafe where we made friends with the locals - a black lab and a cat! They snuggled us as we wrote emails, skyped, and savored our coffees.

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Photos

Rainbows
The North Island has had tonnes of rainbows. We have thought to name our journeys "Fetching Rainbows Tour 08". Theme song, "Somewhere over the rainbow . . ." The problem is, Kirby only knows those exact words of the whole song.

Thanks Sign!
We have enjoyed getting to know the signs of New Zealand. They are very friendly and their suggestions are very appreciated. However, sometimes we can not understand their accent.

Golfing in Tauranga
Kirby swings from an elevated tee, and comes up short and right . . . maybe it is his pants.

Golfing in Tauranga
Christina getting focused, ready to show the course she came to play.

Kiwi's on a Tree
The native Kiwi fruit in its' natural setting.

The Land of the Truck Car
Beach Hop where left hand drives are glorified. We have noticed that there are many car-trucks. In fact, Holden still manufactures a current model. It was nice to see this classic model.

Beach Hop . . . Back in Time to 50s & 60s
Coming across a sock hop, dance competition. Throughly impressed and jealous, because I (Kirby) do not know how to dance with a partner.

More Beach Hop
The real deal, one can not make this up on photoshop.

Another Band
One has to check out the Upright Bass. Pretty 'Sweet As, Bro'

Waves
Beautiful evening surf at Hot Water beach.

Surf and Spa
Sign informing us about the locations feature. This Sign was so polite, almost wanted to take him home.

Kirby Finds a Friend
As Kirby Skypes, black lab makes Kirby feel welcome and appreciated. It was a great treat to hang out with a dog, and Christina was welcomed by a nice cat, and they hung out on a couch together.