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Published: February 14th 2015
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Well we managed to change the car, bit of haggling required and a wasted couple of hours but we now have a nearly new Toyota Corolla and it has no smell and doesn't roll from side to side, goodbye to the barf mobile!!!
We have moved onto a region known as Coromandel. The scenery is spectacular and everything is so green and lush, it's beautiful. We went walking on the Coromandel peninsula the other day. The walk was 10km and we thought that would be no problem. I had read some of the reviews about the walk and most people just do it one way and arrange transport to pick them up at the other. But not for the Bennetts we are not faint hearted and do not shirk a challenge! So after a 2.5hr drive a lot of it on narrow windy gravel rounds we arrived in the final car park which actually was the end of the line or drop off the cliff into the Pacific we donned our boots and set off. The weather was cloudy which we thought made for good walking conditions and the hike was marked really well so even us who have no
directional skills whatsoever couldn't get lost. We started off well, lots of ups and downs but gradually the downs became very very steep so you know that the ups are coming and they are going to be very very bad! All good until my new boots had rubbed my little toes raw. Luckily we had reached the view point and met a very nice couple from Lincolnshire who administered first aid to my feet, so with plastered up toes we headed back which was quite tough, needless to say we were very knackered on the way home. NZ is staggeringly beautiful and very mountainous not hilly!!!
We visited Hot Water Beach which is a famous tourist attraction because when the tide goes out you dig a hole in the sand and the hot spring water bubbles up and you sit in it, it's like having a hot bath on the beach! So off we went to the cheap shop and bought a spade, put on our swim gear and got all excited. It's only about 25 mins away in the car and you have to wait until low tide which was at 19.45pm before you can dig your hole.
They tell you that you need to go 2 hrs either side of the low tide, all very technical so armed with all the information we arrived at 6pm. There were hundreds of people on the beach waiting when we got there, all stood around in the shallows with their spades. Well we stood, we paddled, we got very wet when a few really big waves came crashing into us, we stood some more and we waited and waited, after nearly 2 hrs we headed back to the car. It's was cloudy and windy, we were wet through and Baz had turned blue and still the tide was at the same level as it had been when we arrived!! Somebody was having a laugh and it wasn't us! We may try again another day, or not!
Well another great day, we got on the passenger ferry at Whitianga harbour, its a very small ferry as the total distance across is about 100 metres. so after a long and arduous journey of about 2 minutes we set off on our ramble. We were dropped at a town called Whakapenui (they pronounce the wh as f, just in case you are
trying to work it out) and walked the coastal path up to Shakespeare Cliff, passed Flaxmill Bay and onto Lonely Beach and Cooks Beach. The walk was lovely, very varied and the sun shone on us. Yippee! On the way back we called in at a restaurant, couple of beers and a shared pizza later and then an amble back to the ferry. Perfect. Headed home and went for a swim in the pool followed by a warm up in the spa bath, bliss!! How are we ever going to go back to normality??
Spent Valentines day on the beach. We drove to a little town called Hahei and walked along the coastal path to Cathedral Cove. It was about a 1.5hr walk and the views as you would expect were awesome! It is called Cathedral Cove as it has a large stone archway that leads from one part of the beach to the other. Fortunately the sun was shining and the ocean was as blue as it gets, fantastic stop although it is on the tourist route so we had to share it with quite a few other people. Got a bit soaked going from one beach to
the other, a massive wave came just as I was going through, my timing obviously wasn't great. Had to hang my trousers up in the trees to dry, lucky I had my swimsuit with me although on hindsight it could have been a way to get the beach to ourselves!! Back to base for a BBQ and a bottle of fizz, thoroughly good day, thoroughly good husband. Happy Valentines.
Tomorrow we move on again and are heading further down the coast, updates soon.
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