wind, waves, rain and shine

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Arrived here in Whitianga (on the east coast of the Coromandel Peninsula; Coromandel "town" is on the west coast) yesterday after yet another highly scenic bus ride through the mountains of the Coromandel peninsula, be it through thick cloud and drizzle - it's still gorgeous.
In Whitianga I received a very warm welcome at the "Cat's Pyjamas" Backpackers hostel, infintely friendlier than the impersonal lodge at coromandel - although that did have an outdoor spa. You can never have it all by the look of it. The Cat"s name by the way is Mr. Darcy!!!

Whitianga itself has a beautiful golden beach, a pretty marina, palm trees and a very mild and humid climate. There's also plenty of wind - great for the surfers, but what about the rest of us??? After having a quick look round town and a bite to eat I took the ferry over to the other side of Whitiange Harbour (takes 3 mins, wonder why they don't just build a bridge. But then there'd be one attraction less, I suppose!) and walked on the cliff path to Shakespeare Rock. Apparently Cook named it thus because it resembles the head of the bard when viewed from a particular angle - I can only say this: either he'd had one or two whiskys to many at the time or it just lost a lot of rock over the years. It looks nothing like Shakespeare!

Anyway, I walked to the lookout and, not wholly unexpectedly, the black clouds that had been hovering above me for quite some time decided to burst - I thought there was no point in turning back, as I'd get a thorough soaking either way, so I just went on and when I got to the view point I was rewarded with spectacular scenery and some blue sky! You really have to take pot luck with the weather here - you don't know what it will do next. As a reward I stopped for coffee in the "eggsentric cafe" - NZ is full of weird names!

This morning, warm and sunny but still those black clouds in the distance, I found my sea legs and took a boat trip to see the nearby Cathedral Cove. It was quite a roly-poly affair, as the sea is quite stirred up at the moment (I don't think you'd have liked it, Mum) - more stunning scenery, though it's a pity I couldn't have gone to the beach of Cathedral Cove itself - that's the disadvantage of relying on public transport all the time. Some places you just can't get to, and it's really frustrating!

Back on dry land (by now quite sunny, in patches) I went to the beach - but got driven away again by the wind. Not fun, and the water looking very uninviting. Our skipper told us it's usually blue in summer, but it was a sluggish grey today. If it's this windy here I wonder what it will be like in the so-called "Windy City" Wellington!!!

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Photos

Shakespeare view point
finally arrived, wet and happy to see some blue sky at last!

Shakespeare view point 3
a few mins later it was sunny

Shakespeare view point 4
Lonely bay, with Cooks Beach in the background

library at ferry landing!
at first i misread the sign for "public lavatory" and was amazed when it turned out to be "public library"!

Shakespeare Rock
but where is he???

taken out of the bus
somewhere between Whitianga and Thames