Happy New Yearland

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After our dramatic time up in the north part of the north island we continued in our pursuit for some peace and quiet, this time it was in relation to New Years. Never have gotten the whole New Years vibe to be honest, it always seems so forced and over-priced, so we planned to have some beers with a nice view and a good laugh on our own.
We drove along some beautiful roads all lined with flowering christmas trees. Not the classic tinsel decorated chirstmas trees, but red flowered wide branching trees that are spectacular on their own, and even more dramatic en masse in avenue form. You see, only 2 entries into our New Zealand advenuture and we've decided to populate our news with passionate talk of trees, this might seem a bit too Bob Flowerdew to some of you but take our word for it, it is really like being in Hobbition continually and the nature is simply jaw-dropping.
We spent all day on NYE relaxing on the beach as we'd parked up rather early on in the tourist town of Whitianga and did our best to keep ourselves as inconspicuous as possible so that we wouldn't be moved on by the police. As it is a holiday town there were liquor bans on and regular police patrol trying to control the predicted NYE mayhem. Unfortunatley our cover was blown by 2 friendly and rather drunk blokes who were driving an Adams Family Inspired hearse (complete with a silent Wednesday Adams girl sitting in the boot) which was chocka full of boxes of booze, they were keen to know where we'd come from and where we were going to and one was also pre-occupied with trying to rememer how many times his brother had been arrested in London. It was at that point the filth showed up and told us both to move our vehicles on, so we were scuppered. We could park up on the side of the road, but if we put on the lights inside the van we'd get spotted and probably disturbed by partyers at some point, so just like at christmas we screwed the tops back onto the bevvies and headed out onto the road in search for some serenity. We gave up looking for a rest stop and ended up pulling over in a layby at about 10pm. I rustled up a blinder of a chilli and we set to our own celebrations. We were joined by a lone driver at around 11-ish who was just parked up in darkness on his own (when New Years goes bad I guess?) then we enjoyed some great fireworks which were being set off in the distance and had our own party. At 4am on New Years Day we were both woken up with sore heads by the repeated piercing crowing of a cockrel who had decided that just outside our sliding side door of the van would be the perfect spot to cock-a-doodle-doo the New Year in. Thom chased him off with little success and we tried sleeping of the mini hang-overs we had, then the tourists started pulling up in their droves to take photos. As it so happened, we'd parked up at a really beautiful look-out point (Otara Bay) in the NYE darkness. So we decided to sit in the front seats and enjoy our first 2008 breakfast with the glorious view, giving our best shameless "Morning!" to any tourists who were giving us strange looks. We then joined the rest of the masses relaxing on the beach - Hot Water Beach to be more exact, as it's famed for renting out spades to tourists who can go and dig a hole in the sand and burn their bums in the piping hot sea water. We weren't there for the right tide but we experienced the warm waters in the beach inlet and then watched many a victim be wiped out in the ferocious rips out at sea. The lifeguards flags were about 8 meters apart it was that bad. Thom braved it, I merely paddled.
After all that relaxation we got back onto travelling and made our way to Rotorua - which sits right on top of adjoining tectonic plates (Indo Australian & Pacific) causing the volcanic channel that runs right through NZ. This results in some mega thermal activity: Volcanoes, bubbling mud pools, all kinds of silica and mineral deposits and hot springs which all culminate into a very popular tourist destination. We learned loads about how this area was popular for tourists from way back in the 1920's, when it was regarded as a medicinal refuge where sick folks would come from far and wide to bathe in the mineral pools to cure their ailments (sometimes this was accelerated by electric currents being run through the baths). Prior to this, it was a place of great Maori significance and it was believed that the big volcanic eruption in 1886 was caused by one of the Maori gods who was angry at the Maoris taking advantage of the land along with the tourists. This caused a whole heap of destruction to the place, but it recovered and has remained a touristy hot spot to this day. We did a load of museuming, and walked round town and on many trails to get some great pictures of all the thermal sights. There is a distinct whiff of Sulphur (AKA Beano Stink Bombs) about the place at all times, not really complaining about it just thought this is worthy of note. Needless to say when Thom surprised me with a lush dinner out we made sure to dine inside a restaurant avec air-con!
We then spent another geo-thermal info day at Lady Knox Geyser (which is set off by adding organic soap down it's spout at 10:30am every day). We've got heaps of pictures of all the pools and sights in this park so enjoy!
In conclusion to this entry I will finish with reference to the fabo sunset pictures you will see - how amazing?! This was at Pot Ohope in a free rest stop. Simply Lovely! We did wake up the next morning to find we were parked right in the middle of a charity triathlon which was very tricky to navigate out of but all in good fun on the whole.

Hope everyone had a great New Years - we raised a glass (and some bottles) to you all.

Next up wine, wine and the East!

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Photos

NZ welcome
Entrance to Rotorua Museum of Art & History, which is the Spa retreat built in 1908. It has history on the local area and the treatments undertaken there. Weird stuff.

This is what its like.....everywhere!
Up and down hills. Coromandel Peninsula. New Years Eve.

Winding Roads on West Coromandel Peninsula
These pleasent roads reminded us of The Great Ocean Road, as they hug the Thames Inlet, lined with Pohutukawa trees, nicknamed 'Christmas Trees' for their red colour and they bloom in December.

Nice place to wake up.
This is where we stayed New Years Eve. It was a nice place to wake up in 2008.

New Years Van
The view Bart had on 2008 morning.

This Cock woke me up.
Our wake up call on New Years Day.

Golden Sand
Hot Water Beach, and all of the Coromandel Peninsula has high levels of minerals and precious stones making up the beaches. We should have done some fossicking to get some money.

Mad Rips!!
This is Hot Water Beach, where at low tide you can dig a shallow hole in the sand and sit in 60deg water and burn your bum in a hot bath. In the sea howver its not so relaxed. There are madly strong rips and you can only swim in a flagged area about 30ft across. So here on New Years Day, Thom and 100 others swimmers(floaters we'll say) and boggyboarders challenged it out. It was 'awesome' says Thom.

Man sourcing water bound food
This is me cutting me feet on the obundent amounts of Mussels and cockles in Tairua Inlet, in the Bay of 'Plenty'. Yes it is!

What every Uberwench likes
A beatching coffee to start the day, relaxation on a beach then a free dinner gathered in for her by a fella. That's Thom way off in the distance finding more mussels. I didn't eat any of them, but it's the thought that counts.

Waihi Mill
Was a big pump mill for the the large gold mine here. Has been painstakingly moved (something they do alot with buildings here in NZ) and placed next door as it would have fallen into the big hole that is the mine.

Me & Mine
Waihi (Martha) Gold mine. Once the richest in NZ.(As I wrote before the whole Peninsula is mineral and gold rich.

Mussel Man
Me de-bearding my days catch. They tasted ok but a little sweet as they were free.

Lake Rotorua
...........and my aussie bird curse has come across the Tasman.

Black Swan
On Lake Rotorua.

Smoooke on the cooorner....
The release of sulphur smoke and carbon dioxide is everywhere, literally. The smell of eggy stink bombs (you know the ones that some idiot would always let off at school, 'you know who you are'), is also everywhere.

Anglo-Mauri Church
where inside there is a large pain of glass with Jesus etched in, that when you kneel to pray, looks as though he is water on Lake Rotorua. Genius!

Mauri Ceremonial Post
Pulling a face. I realise now my face was very sunburnt and blended very well.

Rotorua Museum
In its mock Tudor-style, with its croquet and bowls lawns on its frontage.

Beauty & the Mirror
Laura admires herself in the pond.

Bubbling Mud
The bubbles, smoke and more obviously the smell coming out of the ground in the Rotorua area is carbon dioxide and sulphur coming to the surface, which it does in many ways. I looks cool though. Anyway I'm on holiday, I let you goes do the research.