Coromandel Peninsula and the end of NZ

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We stayed at Hahei the first night and got there just in the nick of time to visit Hot Water Beach. Two hours either side of low tide you can dig a hole in the sand down by the sea edge and due to the fact that the sand there is on top of more 'thermal activity' (parts of the beach are above areas where the sea water collects in underground reseviors, this water is then superheated by the earth and the water comes back to the surface. The water cools off just enough at the surface that you can sit in it or in some places it is REALLY hot). We were too late to dig a hole, but we found the spot, dug our toes in just a couple of inches and quickly had to pull them out - it was absolutely boiling hot down there!

Our campsite was on the most stunning long sandy beach, and we were camped next to an absolutely wicked couple from Colorado who were, would you believe it, rafting instructors back home?! They were also on honeymoon and had just started their travels in NZ, so we had a few drinks with them and swapped stories - their stories of extreme kiting sports and skydivers etc back home were absolutely horrific.

The next day we travelled further around the peninsula coastline to find some beaches we had been told were amazing. First things first though we had to get to them in the van! This proved to be quite amusing although pretty hair raising as the single track road disapeared half way up one side of a large hill and we had to continue on a very steep and windey dirt track. The locals who lived by the beaches all had 4x4 trucks and must have thought we were bonkers! by the time we had arrived at the beaches, which were very gorgeous and just the place where you could chill out for a few hours, the sun had gone in. So we soldiered on to Coromandal to the camp site to set up our last nights stay in the van.

Coromandle is an old mining town, which at the height of its mining production had over 10,000 inhabitants. Now with the mines closed it only has just over 1,600 , it was a nice place, the campsite was one of the nicest we'd stayed on although we were pretty much the only people there!We decided to go out for dinner in one of the 3 restaurants the town had to offer. It was Amazing! The place we went to was called the Pepper Tree, it had won many awards in the area (not a lot there though) and was clearly up there with the meal in Te Anau. We had fish chowder and pate and big steaks, declined pudding but did have a glass of the yummy sweet dessert wine before heading back to the campervan for our last night 😞

We spent most of the next day getting over to Aukland which although not far, again, a long journey due to the twisty turny but ever-so-beautiful roads. We dropped the campervan off at 5 pm and after a long squabble with Apollo over their washing line staining our clothes (this is a whole new story we'll fill you in when we get back!) checked into an airport hotel. We decided that it wasn't worth heading into Aukland for just one evening as we were flying at lunchtime the next day. For pennies we got a perfectly OK hotel though, run by a load of indo-fijians - lovely people and bloody hardworking. We met a great gay couple who we had a few drinks with, they were picking up a campervan the next morning so we gave them some tips on where to stay etc - and we had a few games of pool with them. I even beat Rich!!!

And that, my friends, was the end of our wonderful New Zealand adventure.

With lots of love,

Two Happy Fryers xxx

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