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Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » East Coast
November 29th 2006
Published: November 30th 2006
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CoromandelCoromandelCoromandel

Views of the Coromandel Peninsula
Hello everyone - you will be secretly pleased to know we are sat in an Internet Cafe because it is pouring with rain outside, and I mean pouring!! Anyway, a good time to try to play catch up again with this diary. We have been moving on pratically every day, trying to see as much as we can so here goes.
I left you in the Coromandel where we had stopped in a Motel due to the weather. Sunday morning dawned bright and beautiful so we were able to carry on up the West side of the Coromandel Peninsula which was so lovely. The road got even windier, so I am glad we had stopped the previous day.... We drove up to Coromandel town itself and went on the Driving Creek Railway. This has been one mans project for the last 25 years and he originally bought a piece of land to establish a potters co-operative and build a tourist railway. He has expanded over the years, buying up more land and also replanting hundreds of native trees to restore the landscape. The railway was really cute with some amazing views from the top; makes you wonder how on earth they
Driving Creek RailwayDriving Creek RailwayDriving Creek Railway

Kiera wants to drive the train...
build these things. (Sharon: Did Terry ever work here?) We continued across the top of the Peninsula and down the east side, stopping overnight at a place called Hahui. Another beachfront campsite off the beaten track with a fab beach, some great shells and views. This enabled us to get up and be first at the Hot Water Beach a couple of kms along the coast. You have to wait for the tide to go out, then basically dig a hole and sit in it. The lady in the local shop kindly told us where to go as there is only a small section of the beach where the hot water is, and we started digging. You can feel in the sand where hot water comes through and yes, it is b****y hot!! Me & Rik (mostly Rik really) spent the next 2½ hours trying the bale out the pool and keep the sea at bay. At one point Rik leapt over the little sand wall at full stretch trying to prevent the water washing it away - funny is not the word and I wondered what the hell he was doing. Kiera enjoyed herself doing some digging and basically
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View from the top
lying around!!! It was quite surreal to walk away and look back at loads of people crammed into a little space on the beach - looked a bit like UK!! It was then another drive through fantastic scenery and along a sand spit to a place called Waihi where we spent the night - we all slept well......
We decided to come inland then to Rotorua which is the famous geo thermal area full of steaming vents, hot pools, geysers and mud pools. We didn't like the place at all because it is so touristy with literally hundreds of campervans and tour coaches everywhere, but it was fascinating to see some of the areas. We visited a place called Te Puia first which contains the Pohutu geyser which erupts almost continuously and sometimes spurts up to 25metres high. The whole area was unbelievable and it seems everything was bubbling, fizzing, gurgling or spurting; very spooky and I certainly wouldn't want to live here. As part of the package we also went to a Maori cultural performance which was lovely. We got to see the famous Haka performed and also the Poi dance where the women twirl two balls on a
The Silver FernThe Silver FernThe Silver Fern

New Zealands sporting symbols
long piece of string. It is very skilled and looked beautiful when they are all doing it together. We got to learn about a couple of Maori legends and some of their traditions so it was really good. Later on we went walking around an area of the town called Kuirau Park which is an area that just erupted on a Friday afternoon in 2001! Imagine out doing your shopping and things just start blowing up - quite bizarre. The whole place was eery and again lots of steaming pools, mud holes and ethereal blue lakes. As they say in New Zealand - Awesome!!
For a bit of light relief we then ventured up the Skyrail cable car (I am getting so brave....) where we could get great views of Lake Rotorua and Kiera and Rik spent a great hour going on the Luge ride; it was the paper and Latte for me!
Thursday we headed out of Rotorua to the Bay of Plenty which is again on the East Coast. The East Coast tends to get the better weather and also has the white sand beaches, whilst the West Coast tends to get a bit of a battering and
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Breakfast overlooking the sea..
has predominantly black sand beaches. We drove through a fairly big town called Whakatane where we stopped for lunch but we didn't like it as it had a real atmosphere. There were lots of kids hanging around and we saw lots of Black Power tattooed people; since found out it is quite a prolific "gang" area, and it shows! We ended up in a tiny place called Owiha which we found again by going off the main highway routes. I can't get enough of these deserted beautiful beaches and this was yet another one. The weather was really hot and so we decided to stay for two days and Rik take a rest from the driving. We just spent the time wandering along the beach and having a couple of beers. The harbour there was fantastic for shellfish but we couldn't bring ourselves to slop through all that mud - Morecambe Bay and all that.
We debated for quite a while whether to then go right around the East Cape of the North Island or cut straight across towards a city called Gisbourne. The East Cape is quite an isolated area and as we would have just followed the edge
Hot Water BeachHot Water BeachHot Water Beach

Rik keeps the sea at bay
of the land around, we decided against it and cut through to Gisbourne. We were really glad we did as the drive was amazing. We drove though the stunning Waioeka Gorge and followed the river for most of the way. It was actually what I have imagined Canada to look very much like, so we'll see when we get there. We then stopped in Gisbourne for lunch which was a nice looking city and we went down the harbour front to look at Captain Cooks Statue. This was the first place in New Zealand that he landed at, and named it Poverty Bay. This is thought to be due to the fact that the Maori tribe he came across had nothing much they wanted to trade and Cook assumed they were very poor. (There is still debate over whether to change the name of Poverty Bay to something else).
We carried on then back up into the Mountains and to a tiny camping place called Morere Hot Springs. This was idyllic and on the banks of a small river with the hot springs complex across the road. We whiled away the rest of the afternoon in the Hot Springs, deciding
Hot Water BeachHot Water BeachHot Water Beach

Kiera plays in the water
we are obviously destined to "Hot Spring" our way around New Zealand.
Sunday we decided to drive down a small peninsula called the Mahia Peninsula where I had read you could go to a Paua Shell Farm. Paua Shell is that really brilliant blue coloured shell that New Zealand is famous for and you can buy practically anything here that is made of it. Unfortunately the weather was a bit overcast, the peninsula was really disappointing with nothing there and the farm tour wasn't until 2pm and there was literally nothing to do round there for 4 hours while we waited. After driving off the main highway for about 13km along little more than tarmaced goat tracks clinging to the side of the mountains, we eventually found ourselves in a tiny place called Waipakiki Beach. There was nothing there except the campsite and farm, but it was obviously a popular place as there were quite a lot of families diving and swimming, and after being pointed in the right direction by the campsite owner, we were finally able to find our own Paua shells on the beach. Kiera was so excited it was lovely - just got to find some
Maori PakaMaori PakaMaori Paka

A Maori store for food or treasures.
way of cleaning and polishing them now. That night we had horrendous gales which were quite scary when you're sat in a high topped little campervan, rocking away so I was very grateful when the wind disappeared!!
A small journey then to the city of Napier which is known as the Art Deco capital of New Zealand if not the world. The whole city was virtually destroyed in 1931 in a big earthquake, so basically able to start with a clean sheet, the council decided to rebuild the city in the Art Deco style. The buildings are beautiful and the city is really well laid out. There was a jazz band (complete with straw boaters) playing in the mall and the whole place looked and sounded what I have always imagined New Orleans to be like. We again managed to waste a few hours in the Ocean Spa hot pools where the glass walls overlooked the sea - its a tough life!!
Anyway, we are now in Lake Taupo and I will tell you all about that next week. Hope Christmas is not becoming too crazy and that all the men reading this have started their Christmas Shopping (Women generally
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Boiling mud pools
start in January!!). Take care. Lots of Love
Nicchi, Rik & Kiera xxxxxx


Additional photos below
Photos: 16, Displayed: 16


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Te PuiaTe Puia
Te Puia

The Pohutu geyser
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Te Puia

Kiera touches the hot rocks
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Te Puia

The traditional Maori challenge
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Te Puia

Sulphur coated rock formations
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Te Puia

Blue lake
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Kuirau Park in Rotorua

Lake and Boardwalk - spooky!!
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Rotorua

View from the SkyRail


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