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Published: August 6th 2009
Tuesday, August 4th
We drove to Cathedral Cove, a few kilometers north of Hahei. It's a 45min hike from the parking area to the cove and the area is spectacularly beautiful (the cove was used in one of the Narnia movies). We walked around, took a bunch of pictures, and enjoyed the gorgeous area.
When "the crowds" arrived we took a hike to Stingray Bay with its beautiful light blue water, then returned to our van for peanut-butter and syrup sammies. After lunch we drove back through Hahei toward highway 25 and then north to the 309. The 309 soon became gravel with small stretches of tar whenever there's a little bridge. The road was perfect for a bit of rally driving and Ferdi day-dreamed about putting his Subaru WRC car through its paces (while in reality he piloted the van at a sedate 40km/h). In this way we crossed the back-bone of the Coromandel Peninsula from the east coast to the west coast.
Once on the west coast we drove north through Coromandel Town. Here we had our first run-in with an Honesty Box. We'd heard stories of these fabled and unlikely boxes. Ferdi spotted a sign for
Avocados and Kiwis so we pulled over. There, in an unattended open-front shop by the side of the road, sat the fruit neatly packed in bags. Next to these sat the Honesty Box. You take what you want and drop the money in the box. Brilliant concept, but where else in the world can you trust people to pay for what they take? In SA everything including the table would be gone 5mins after you set it down! We got a big bag of kiwis and a small bag of avos, dropped our money in the box, and continued north on a gorgeous road winding next to the coastline.
We arrived in Colville and found a spot to camp in a farm-like setting. After a cup of tea we walked along the shore of Colville Bay. It was filled with tons of shells and also three dead penguins. We couldn't see what had killed them. They looked okay, other than the fact that they were dead.
We returned to camp and took a shower. Then we prepared a lovely Thai chili rice with chili-beans broth. It was very yummy. We've gotten into the habit of watching a movie
before bed time and tonight was no different.
Today's highlights:
1. Visiting Cathedral Cove.
2. Beautiful drive through the Coromandel.
3. Serene camping spot.
Impressions of NZ:
It's official. New Zealand is a very dangerous country to drive in. It's just too damn beautiful here and on every curve you're tempted to watch the scenery rather than the road. Wednesday, August 5th
Neither of us was feeling very well this morning. We were suffering from sore throats and a bit of phlegm. We enjoyed a big breakfast then headed south out of the Coromandel. It was a beautiful drive next to the coast all the way to Thames. Here we stopped to stock up on more food and also to get more warm clothes.
Shortly after leaving Thames we turned west and crossed the Waihou River on a single lane bridge almost half a kilometer long. We stopped at the Miranda Hot Springs for lunch (we didn't go in, we just used the parking area), then continued on to Orere Point. We made camp, walked down to the beach, then had a nap. We weren't feeling all that great.
After the nap we felt much
better and with a big mug of steaming hot-chocolate in hand we felt even better. On a sad note, Ferdi came to the conclusion that the guitar he got (over the internet, let that be a lesson) was absolute crap. You'd think they'd make the guitar out of wood, not crap, but apparently not. It's impossible to tune. Whenever you tune one string the rest goes out because the whole body distorts. Oh well, we'll still decide how it will die. Maybe it'll go the way of Kurt Cobain's guitars... We'll see.
After a shower we met the biggest ginger cat we'd ever seen. It was fluffy and cute and huge! We wanted to abduct him but with his size he'd eat us bankrupt in a week. Later we made dinner, caught up with some correspondence and watched a movie.
Today's highlights:
1. Nice nap.
2. Hot-chocolate.
3. Big fat ginger cat.
Impressions of NZ:
The coastline never stops! It's great! Thursday, August 6th
Before leaving camp we met another fat cat. Apparently they hunt and eat rabbits. That, supposedly, explains their size. We'd like to see one of these fatty's run down a rabbit! Also,
there’s only one dog on the resort and he’s on a leash, so there’s no one to give them a bit of exercise (other than the rabbits of course).
We left Orere and took the scenic route to Clevedon, then turned north to Maraetai. We enjoyed yet another beautiful drive next to the ocean. Just outside of Maraetai we found a beautiful picnic spot. It wasn't lunch time yet so we took a nap. We just love driving our house around! We can pretty much stop wherever we like.
After the nap we made yummy "burgers" then drove on. We didn't really now where we wanted to go, all we knew was that we needed to stay fairly close to Auckland because Ferdi still had an unconfirmed meeting with some industry people sometime in the next few days. We decided to go to Clarks Beach, a small holiday town on the shores of the Manukau Harbour and the Waiuku River.
On the way we drove into Papakura. We were almost instantly lost because there were no signs to Clarks Beach and it wasn't exactly a small town. We stopped to get some cash and spotted an electronics
store of the same chain we'd bought our GPS from. They have a 14 day return/refund/change-of-mind policy so we exchanged our hiking GPS for the car GPS we wanted in the first place and they refunded the balance. Awesome!
Back in the van we plugged in "Emily" (that's the name of the voice) and she immediately guided us out of town and down the right road. Why is it that most GPS's have lady voices as default? Don't they know men hate it when women tell them how to drive!
😉
We arrived in Clarks Beach, found a spot to camp, made tea and enjoyed the sunshine. Apparently we bring nice weather wherever we go. Every place we've checked into since leaving Hamilton has said that the day we arrive was the first day they had good weather in a while. "George just lucky I guess."
The showers at most of these resorts work on a timer. For 50c you get 5mins of hot water. Just when Talita was nice and soaped up her water stopped. Previously she’d been able to have a good shower in less than 5mins. Not so this time. That shower was definitely not
First beach
Cathedral Cove5mins. Since she didn’t have another 50c on her she had to wipe herself clean instead of having a nice warm rinse. There wasn’t even a drop of cold water to help her.
Very unhappy she returned to the van and we cooked up a nice dinner to take the pain away.
Today's highlights:
1. Nap at a gorgeous spot.
2. Getting "Emily".
3. Another warm sunny day in NZ.
Impressions of NZ:
Since coming here it's hard to imagine how we survived the chaos of Asia. It feels like that part of the trip was just a dream. Good thing we kept the blog!
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Leon
non-member comment
Hoe werk dit?
Dis rerig 'n pragtige land daai en ek hou lekker holiday saam met julle so deur die blog. Ek weet dis nie nice om ALLES op die blog te skryf nie, so julle kom so bietjie voor soos He-man of die queen wat nooit poefies of piepie nie. Waar doen julle die convenience stops, julle het mos nie onboard potty nie? Ek weet nou julle shower by ander karavaan/oornag parke. Watse gear kom alles saam met die bussie? Braai, microwave, TV, yskas, uitvou tafel vir etes? Waar kry jy so baie movies om te kyk, het julle dit gedownload van die interwebs? wat kos die internet julle daar? Jammer vir die baie vrae maar woepies wurm wil weet?