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Published: March 14th 2008
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The last time Kaye & I went away we had the help of a bottle of Jamieson's for our inspiration and it worked a treat.
Alas, this time there was no Jamieson's (very remiss), but we still had a lovely time, depsite the shoddy weather & my possibly fractured foot.
Kaye met me in Tauranga & we drove up to Whitianga, where we haggled with & then stayed at Thelma's. Great motel with a fabulous beach front view, we discovered as we were about to leave. Previously it had been hard to distinguish what we were looking at through the clouds, fog, mist, rain, and the spray that was being blown about by a howling gale.
We spent the first day pottering about having coffee, lunch, browsing around the (few) shops of Coromandel town and driving along a very muddy road and getting the car absolutely, unbelievably filthy. We drove past Port Jackson to about as far as the road goes at the top of the Coromandel peninsula. Apart from a remote, but fabulously located DOC campsite and a random phonebox, there really isn't much there. On a nicer day it would have been great for some tramping. But
Beach at Port Jackson
That bit of blue sky was a split second freak occurence! alas, it was still raining, so we turned around and drove back to Whitianga.
Day two, thank heavens, was bloody glorious. So, like the good tourists we are, we headed to Hot Water beach. Here, the done thing is to hire a spade for a modest $4 and head off down the beach and dig a hole. Said hole fills with hot water. and then you sit in it. The optimum time for this is about an hour either side of high tide, or something like that. Needless to say, neither of us hired a spade. Neither of us dug a hole. Consequently, neither of us sat in a hole. Far too tacky.
Instead, we headed for Hahei. Hahei is lovely. We got a great spot on the beach, sunned ourselves, got covered in sand by a few freak gusts of wind and had a lovely dip in the sea to de-sand ourselves. Apparently exfoliating is good for the skin.
We had a booked a boat trip, so off we headed.
The
Hahei Explorer is a RIB that zooms along the coast pottering in and out of coves & caves. Great fun.
We eventually tore ourselves away and headed
down the west coast of the peninsula, through Thames (not much there) and onto Paeroa. Home of L&P. Kaye's sister Martina lives here, so we stayed the night.
Hoorah. The weather gods were being kind and the following days was also fabulous, so we headed off to Te Aroha where there is a nice outdoor swimming pool and some mineral pools. Just right for a wee soak. Apparently it is all very therapeutic and good for the soul.
After that it was a mad dash (obliterating some of that new found peace and calm) for the airport in Tauranga, where I thought I might well miss the flight due to the ineptitude of the coffee counter girl.
It was lovely to see Kaye again. This seems to be in danger of becoming an annual event, although she assures me it'll be a fair while before she is back again. I'm not sure I am falling for that! We have plenty more places to head away to!
Now, those of you that have been paying attention will remember a while back I said I was training for a triathlon.
Crazy, I know.
Well, I did train for a
triathlon. And somewhere along the way I got a sore foot.
I did the Round the Bays run. I was very pleased with my 7km in 46 mins. Admittedly, not the time of an elite athlete, but pretty respectable for me.
The following week I did a big bike trail thing, during which some idiot ran up my back wheel. She came off, I didn't. However I did have to stop very suddenly. It may well have been this that was the final straw for my poor right foot.
No more running. No more triathlon.
Fortunately the
Kapiti women's triathlon caters for all sorts & abilities and I was able to register for the swim/cycle event, which meant I could compete and complete an event. So I did.
I am now seeing the physio, hopping around on crutches and waiting for an appointment to see the sports injury doc.
Morale of this story? Exercise is bad for you!
Actually, I am gutted. Because, much as I hate to admit it, I have actually really enjoyed all the swimming, cycling & running that I have been doing and it is such a shame not to be able to carry on for the time
being, while I still have the enthusiasm.
Well, I reckon that is about it for now.
A xx
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