COROMANDEL PENINSULA

---

Set off North again for the true part of the peninsula and found a lovely beach with quite strong surf at Tairua on he east coast. Spent the afernoon there and waited for low tide so that we could go to hot Water Beach. This is where 2 hot springs emerge on the beach at low tide. Everyone was there, with hired spades, digging away in the sand and then lying in the water in the pools they created. Some were tepid, others just cold, but a few were really hot, too hot to stand or sit in , because the water was bubbling up just below your feet. Some of the water comes out at 60C. We spent the night at a site at Hahei and manged anothe beach walk, just as it got dark.

The next moring we moved the van a few miles to the car park for Cathedral Cove and walked the 30 min to the cove itself. It was the prettiest cove we haveseen so far, with a great arch of stone about the size of Durdle Door, but much deeper than I remember it. We spent the morning there and enjoyed swimming in the waves; not much swimming, more keeping your head above water as the surf pounded in. We tried the other 2 bays after lunch, but they were no-where near as good so headed off again to Whitianga, where we found a lovely spot to stay, just by the harbour. There were about 10 vans parked for the night, but we were all woken by a knock on the door and a notice to say we were illegally parked. Just a warning though and quite friendly about it too.

We drove on from there to Coromandel town in rather mixed weather. We spent an hour or so at a water park, where they had lots of weird water-powered contraptions and many funny notices. We sun bathed for the afternoon and Bryn snorkelled in the bay until a lady said she had seen a large sting ray not far away. We were not too impressed by the town itself so drove on down the west side of the peninsula to Thames.

Friday morning we made an early start and were in Auckland for 1030. We went to see the school where Allan Short is going after Easter and then bought some sandals, a pair each at very good prices at an outlet, which Lys had discovered among all the other atttractions of Auckland. Tamysn will be pleased to know they are Teva! After that we took advanatge of a rather grey day to drive on to Warkworth and then Goats Island which is a marine reserve. We both snorkelled there and saw lots of fish, some quite big enough to eat, but not rays!!! The sun came out again too.

---