Capers on the Coromandel

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Spent the day shopping in Auckland, picking up a sleeping bag and much needed tape adapter so that we can turn Reg into a one-car, Proclaimers-promoting, passion wagon and once he was fitted out, we headed off East, stopping in Thames at lunch, larding it up with a toasted bagel before travelling on to HaHei to visit the Hot Bath beach on the Coromandel Penninsular.
Reg didn't hasn't taken to all the off-roading that we've been doing recently, and has developed an annoying grinding in his off-side front wheel which really, really, doesn't sound good, but at least we get to pick up a new hire car in the South island, so we might survive.

Lodging at HaHei Beach Backpackers resort, we started on the beers and wandered down to the sea, where a stunning horizon unfolded before us, one of the best I've seen yet, dotted with rocks and islands of all sizes, flooded by crystal clear waters. We found a spot near a recently built and ready to burn fire, and I waded into the sea, beer in hand. Adam stopped on the beach and was soon joined by a couple and started up a conversation. After quarter of an hour, the chills were setting in and the little white-bait that I had been attempting to catch had dissapeared for the evening so I joined the group on the beach and dried off.

The couple turned out to be the fire's owners and in the dusky evening, with a little help from a bottle of Kerosene, we lit up the beach in a warm orange glow and chatted and drunk for hours.

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