Blogs from Whitianga, Coromandel, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania

On Sunday had a pot lunch at Leo's nieces house, plenty of wine, also homemade gin and tonic there was enough food to feed the 5 thousand, left about 6pm to stop the night at Paula's house, started on the homemade gin again, then tried homemade bailys cream it was very nice.On Monday traveled back up north to Paunanui, had 2 nights there, went over to Tirauri to climb the extinct volcano core very hard climb almost vertical, left their on Wednesday morning to get up to Coromandel town, to travel on the dry creek railway. On the way their took a short cut over the mountain from east to west, the road turned out to be a gravelled single track road,very scary as the bends where all switchbacks and steep drop offs, got to the ... read more

Donderdag 15 Mei 2014: Ik heb een goede nacht gehad in de jeugdherberg en vandaag sla ik er wel in om op te tijd te vertrekken. Ik moet echter nog en kleine omweg maken terug naar het centrum voor inkopen omdat ik niet weet of ik nog een degelijke supermarkt tegenkom vandaag. Via wat achterwegen kan ik het centrum van Rotorua verlaten. Ik kom nog langs het meer waar de zon mooi op reflecteert. Ik neem de weg naar Mamaku om de hoofdbaan nog een tijdje te mijden. Deze klimt langzaam zonder al teveel moeite naar 570m en ik was op 300m vertrokken vanmorgen. In Mamaku zou er nog een achterweg verder lopen maar volgens de borden zou het dood lopen. Ik besluit om het niet te riskeren. Nadeel is dat ik op de hoofdweg beland ... read more

14.-16. Oktober: Sonntag, Montag und Dienstag Waipoua Kauri Forest ( Tane Mahuta ), Reisetag nach Snells Beach an der Ostküste und Weiterreise nach Whitianga. Am Sonntag beschliessen wir auf den Besuch in Russell mit Spaziergang zum Flagstaff Hill zu verzichten und stattdessen Tane Mahuta, dem grössten Kauri Baum einen Besuch zu machen. Dazu müssen wir den nördlichen Teil der Nordinsel überqueren um in den Waipoua Kauri Forest zu gelangen, das heisst ein Weg ist ca. 130 km lang. Da dies seine Zeit dauert, müssen wir was zum Futtern mitnehmen. Wir packen also den Rucksack mit Trinkbarem, streichen Sandwiches und stecken noch Kraftriegel ein. Die Wetterlage ist unstabil, also stopfen wir noch unsere Regenjacken in den Rucksack. Wir fahren los, gemütlich, Willi knipst unentwegt Bilder, wir zählen die überfahrenen Oposums, Vögel und anderes Getier, hören dam... read more

So we are back in New Zealand, after our entertaining diversion to Sydney. First stop was Aukland for just one night. We checked into a 'pod hotel', just to remind us of all those happy nights in the camper van! We had a great meal out with Juan, in an interesting little Spanish restaurant. He showed us parts of the city that are off the normal tourist route. Aukland is far more diverse than other parts of the country, more a typical cosmopolitan capital (even though it isn't). One quarter of the entire country's population live in the city. It still manages though to retain all the friendliness and charm of small-town New Zealand. And that's what we have more of now we have moved, for our final few days here, up onto the Coromandel peninsula. ... read more

Hot water beach campsite. Had breakfast with Hayley and her mum. Back into Whitianga- to Bay Carving to finish my Maori/Celtic bone carving. I sanded it within an inch of it's life to smooth out any imperfections. Quite satisfied with how it came out and good to know it's a one-off personal design. Plus way cheaper than if you were to buy one in Auckland. Got assaulted again by seagulls when trying to eat my fish and chips by the harbour. Drove down road towards Mount Maunganui and after a fair few miles realised that I'd left my laundry in hot water beach campsite like a complete eejit. Drove back and parked up for the night back at Hot Water Beach. Early start in the morning to move myself down the coast to Mount Maunganui. Bone ... read more