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Published: March 14th 2007
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Continuing from previous blog entry...
Coromandel Peninsula Next we headed north to the Coromandel Peninsula. This is east of Auckland, and we spent an amazing week here enjoying the beautiful coastal scenery. After so much rain we were also blessed with a week of hot glorious sunshine, which was most welcome!
Our first stop was the little town of Tamui, which we chose solely because the hostel there had Sky TV so we could watch the culmination of the Australian Open tennis tournament. It actually turned out to be a lovely place, with a huge sheltered harbour and a white sandy beach, where we joined all the holidaying kiwis and played in the big 5 ft surf. That evening we were the only people staying in the hostel and so James took advantage of this to cook a delectable authentic New Zealand dinner of beef wrapped in pastry and filled with mushrooms.
After 2 days we started making our way to the north of the peninsula, stopping off for a walk (and swim) at Cathedral Cove, a huge arched rock along the beach. We spent the night at Coromandel Town, which we didn't think that much of,
although the hostel again had Sky enabling us to watch the Federer v Rodriguez final.
By this stage we were getting pretty tired of all the travelling and decided it was time to stay somewhere nice for a while. We spent 4 days on an idyllic working farm called Colville Farm, which turned out to be by far our favourite accommodation in the north island - a 1,260 hectare working farm with cows, sheep and horses, and a few hills to walk up and enjoy far reaching views of the coast. The people there were really friendly and told us to put our tent up anywhere on their farm. We elected for a spot by a babbling brook but not too far from the cottage (which we could use the facilities of) and soon got used to the horses roaming around our tent (see the photos!).
During our time there we milked the farm's docile cow Daisy, wandered around the hills, drove to the northernmost tip along very dodgy gravel roads to do the Coromandel Coastal Walkway and also did a one day climb up to The Pinnacles (800m) on the spine of the peninsula. All in all
it was a wonderful relaxing stay!
Return to Auckland Since we really liked Auckland, after our tour of the Coromadel Peninsula we went back!
Actually, we had two very good reasons to go back to Auckland: first we had booked tickets to see a “Super 14” rugby match, and second we had tickets to go and see the Cirque du Soleil.
The Super 14 is a southern hemisphere rugby tournament involving 14 top teams from New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. We got tickets to go and watch the Blues (Auckland) play the Crusaders (Christcurch) and we had a good time watching the home team win.
The Cirque du Soleil is a Canadian circus act who tour the world giving performances in a big top and they are known for focusing on a storyline as well as doing fantastic circus acts and stunts. They were brilliant when we saw them - the costumes worn by the performers were totally outrageous, making them seem very other-worldly. The acts were all joined together in a fluid way so that we felt captivated the whole way through. And of course the acrobatics were really impressive.
Waiheke Island For a day trip we took the ferry out of central Auckland to a nearby island called Waiheke Island. Here we visited a winery (where we tasted a very nice but pricey Syrah), went for a coastal walk past some modern art sculptures (which we were not too convinced by), and visited a music museum.
Surprisingly, the highlight was the musical museum. This was a small museum with lots of old instruments, including pianos, harpsichords and accordions. The two elderly people who ran the place gave an hour or so long talk about what they did, which we found very interesting. They had both been collecting and restoring old and rare musical instruments for many years and had some very special instruments in their collection.
The drive down south Although there was still lots of the north island that we hadn't seen, we decided to scoot down to Wellington (right at the south of the north island) in order to get to the Marlborough wine festival on the 10th February. Instead of staying in the capital itself, we went to Moana Lodge, a lovely hostel on the coast in Plimmerton 20 minutes north of the city.
Piha Beach west of Auckland
Where they filmed The Piano This turned out to be a great move as it was a really luxurious hostel with fantastic views of the sea and south island from the huge bay windows in the comfy lounge.
We spent our only full day in Wellington wandering around the city. Our first impression was that we didn't like it as much as Auckland but it is perhaps unfair to compare a city judged in 11 days to one judged in only a single day! The only noteworthy things we did were seeing the famous Te Papa museum, which was colossal and most informative, and going up on the cable car to the botanical gardens. That evening there was a communal meal in our hostel followed by a concert in the lounge by two young English folksingers who had decided to take a break from work and travel around New Zealand. It was surprisingly excellent!
And so on the 9th February we left the north island on the car ferry to start our southern island adventure. We were really sad to leave actually. Everyone always rushes down to the south island raving on about how it is so much more beautiful, but we both
really loved the north island! It reminded us of the hilly areas of England and had that kind of gentle, green and peaceful beauty.
That's the end of our first (split in two) colossal New Zealand entry! We've continued having an amazing time in the south island and will try and get something on pretty soon...
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