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Published: March 17th 2007
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Kia Ora chapesses and chaps and welcome to the first real blog of 2007. I can't believe that I've taken so long to write this blog that summer has now been and gone! After a very slow start, summer eventually arrived in early January and continued on a warm, sunny and dry theme until just last week. Last week's weather madness was a cheeky wee storm that blew in with lots of rain, thunderstorms and high winds - luckily Wellington got off pretty lightly for a change and Auckland got it quite bad which was amusing especially as well get sent home at 3pm because of the severe weather warning and they didn't! hardeehar....
Anyway, now that the pending baby Galloway news has filtered out slowly, this blog will tell you and show you (sorry for going photo crazy but it was amazingly beautiful) about our trip to the Coromandel Peninsula with Jo-Ann's Mum and her hubbie Jim. They came down to NZ for 2.5 weeks in late November/early December and we took a few days off and flew up to Auckland then took a hire car. The Coromandel is a relatively narrow peninsula situated to the east of Auckland
and separated from the big smoke by the Hauraki Gulf. It gets crazy busy during school holidays at Christmas and in January when it seems most of Auckland goes there for holidays so we caught it at the perfect time.
Our hire car was a peachy Subaru Impreza which makes a change from the usual stuff you get and it drove like a dream. After a stop in Thames to do a food/booze shop, we found our house with ease in the beautiful town of Hahei on the east coast of the peninsula. After unpacking our stuff, we started our first barby of the trip despite the rain with yours truly on banger duty! After the rain went off we wandered down to the beach for a look and a stroll - it was beautiful and we decided that we couldn't wait until the weather turned and we could get the towels out and lie in the sun.
The next day was sunny but as forecast there was still a cold southerly breeze blowing that had quite an impact on the temperature so we decided that this was the ideal day to go for a drive to check
Classic NZ scene on the road to Coromandel Township
Just missing the huge snow-capped mountain in the background out the area and the town of Whitianga and the township of Coromandel (quite why Coromandel is a township rather than a town, I don't know - it didn't look much like Soweto to me). It was a great call as it was a great day for driving around - sunny for good views and cold enough to justify being in the car rather than outside.
The next day was truly perfect - sunny and about 26-28 degrees. We headed for the beach and had that long awaited lie on a towel, read a book and damage your skin day that we'd been so looking forward to. It was sensational and we were 4 of about 10 people on the whole beach which was suuuperb. Afterwards, we headed to the famous Hot Water Beach where underground hot springs heat the sand and the hordes of people who come along 1.5 hours either side of low tide and dig holes in the sand and lie in them as the hot water heats their bahookies. We had no idea whet we were doing but eventually managed to dig a huge cavern that got some hotness on occasions. To be fair, Jo-Ann
did most of the digging as I was managing the project and had to keep my 'helicopter view' and not get too involved in the detail. Some Irish girls stupidly tried to copy our digging strategy but eventually gave up and joined us in our hole. We probably had another barby that night but to be honest I don't remember.
What I do remember is that Jim and I went on a kayaking trip the next morning and left the chicks to do their thang. It was another hot sunny day and the conditions were perfect for kayaking so we got to go south along the cave ridden coastline and we even managed to kayak into and through some caves. After some more beach action when we got back, we went to the even more famous Cathedral Cove which features, well a cove that that doesn't really look like a cathedral. But you can walk through it to another great beach which has a huge stack sticking out the water.
We had a nice meal out that night and then the next day packed up, cleaned the house and drove back to Auckland airport for the flight back
Looking down towards Coromandel Township & the Hauraki Gulf
Don't be fooled by the sunny outlook - it was fairly baltic up there due to the strong southerly. to Wellington. It was a fantastic holiday albeit short and I for one can't wait to get back to Hahei Beach again.
The other highlight of the in-laws visit was our premature Christmas dinner which we had about 2 weeks before the real thing. It was made clear to Jim and I that we would more a hindrance than a help so we went out for a bike ride which almost went a bit Pete Tong. Almost 2 years of life in Wellington should have taught me that it's always windier than you think and we found that out as we cycled along the waterfront and hit the wind tunnel of Evans Bay and that road along to the airport. We were almost blown off our bikes a couple of times and I was virtually going backwards at one point! We made it back eventually in one piece and enjoyed a glorious meal of turkey with all the trimmings, great crackers, poppers (the ones that explode when you pull the string not the dodgy stuff in the wee bottle) and exchanged gifts. A great day....
Well, that's all folks - more to come soon (hopefully not another 3
months away) on the Sevens, boys canoeing trip down the Whanganui River and our recent South Island campervan trip!
Hope all are well - stay in touch!!
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Michael in Shanghai
non-member comment
on top of a grassy knoll.....
Is it any coincidence that your first blog for eons come less than 24 hours after the Kiwis thrash us English in the cricket??? I smell a conspiracy......