Blogs from Whitianga, Coromandel, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 4

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 ... read more

Saturday 23rd Woke up to a dry but overcast day, so this looks promising, but as we drive off with our driver 'Purple', it starts to rain and it just gets heavier and heavier. We whizz through the mural town and the much hyped photo stop with the large Lemon and Peroa bottle - I shoud have asked him to stop - just got that blurred image out the window. We get to Thames a bit late, just time to swap onto the other bus, smaller - with our driver Luke. We head into the windy Coromandal hills, see plenty of swollen rivers and things bending in the (we later hear 40 knot) winds. We draw up to a couple of beaches, but miss out on 'Hot Water Beach' - where you can dig your own ... read more

Queda solo una semana de "vacaciones"Despues de año nuevo pasamos dos dias tranquilos en Whangamata y luego volivimos a FLAXMILL, donde estaba el Montego Bay un velero que nos llevaria a pasear. Despues de ahi fuimos Hot water beach (Playa de agua caliente). AL dia siguiente hicimos una caminata a una cascada en el parque Wenworth. El sabado fuimos a Tairua para que los chicos pesquen. Ese Domingo Russ y Steph volvieron a Auckland y nosotros seguimos primero a Waihi y luego a Thames, Coromandel Town y Fletcher bay.... read more

This peninsula is to the east of Auckland, and I'd always wanted to come here ever since Uncle George sent us a board game when we were little called "Round new Zealand". It is stunning. we drove up the west coast of ot yesterday, stopping to have a look at some old gold mines. Then across an unsealed road through the mountains - visiting a square Kauri tree on the way, and down to this hostel called most aptly "on the beach". It is exactly. Mercury bay was named by captain Cook as he called in to watch Mercury pass the sun, and this bit of the bay is called Buffalo Bay because a ship of that name was wrecked here, and lies just in front of the hostel, under the water. ... read more

things i must remember about my stay at kauotunu motor camp. a. the name. kauotunu. maybe the spelling. b. dilwin, her husband, and her two adorably cute and crazily hyper boys. c. the family get together and barbecues i was allowed to be a part of. heather and nigel's good bye barbecue. how quickly i was welcomed into a world and a group of friends. d. walking through the campground and doing a double take at the crystal clear stars up in the night sky with nothing to distract from their clear patterns. e. millions of tiny, broken down shells. a colorful, sand mosaic. f. nearly falling off the kauri walk as i inadvertently tried to hike down the side of a cliff that was never intended to be hiked down. that was a close call. ... read more