Last week in NZ

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so since we've head out of Auckland, we've been adventuring (on the left side of the road) with our rental car all over the Coromandel Penninsula, and further south. We stopped off in a so called party town, Whangamata, but it was pouring rain so we mostly stayed in our trailer that we rented for the night playing card games. After that we did a gorgeous walk in the rain through the estuaries, forests and beach of Oputere - a hidden town between Tairua and Whangamata. We were feeling pretty restless with the lack of sunshine so we decided to do a 6 hour hike up in the Coromandel National Park, called the Pinnacles. The way up was pretty rough but we had some gorgeous views, and full satisfaction by the end of the day. Next we headed up to stay with Angie's family, Joan and John, in Tairua - we were greeted with hefty servings of chicken curry and could not have been happier. We stayed there two nights, and were treated fantastically - food, family, friends.. free! Day one in Tairua we went to Hahai beach and Cathedral Cove - both very stunning and very hothothot. Day two we headed just outside of Tairua to another beach for the afternoon, then off to Mount Maunganui, where we'll spend 3 nights (its our last tonight!). The hostel here is great, lots of friendly people and an outdoor/patio area.. only 5 minutes from the beach. Yesterday Angie, Elise, and Hillary hit the surf (3 times!) while I sat nursing my knee, and took some pictures of the area and them in the waves. Today we climbed the Mount, and did a little bit of exploring around Angie's dad's child neighbourhood, Tauranga. Tomorrow we head to Rotorua, and will be staying at one of the glorious lakes with some Australians that we met in Auckland! After that its Bungee jumping off the Auckland Harbour Bridge then off to OZ! Don't worry, bungee jumping was invented here - I assure you it's totally safe! Much love to everyone at home!

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Photos

Oputere
beginning of our glorious walk on the way to the beach

Oputere
very windy and rainy but stunning nonetheless

The pinnacles
one of many suspension bridges we crossed (one person max) on the way to the top!

The pinnacles
our timed group shot on the hike!

The pinnacles
a view from our hike, you can see one of the peaks is actually a former volcanic duct

The pinnacles
finally near the top! we stopped at the hut, but you can take an extra hour to head to the veryvery top. The weather wasn't great so we didn't risk it

Our drive home
yes.. our car is submerged in water. we had to drive through a shallow rivers to get back. YIKES

Hahai Beach
Elise was afraid of the waves.. for good reason

Hahai Beach
Hillary and Ang struggling to stay up

Hahai Beach
Ang, Hill, Elise

Hahai Beach
Ang and Hill.. still struggling

Cathedral Cove
A long walk later we arrived at the beautiful cove

Cathedral Cove
Angie and Hillary did some exploring around the rock

Cathedral Cove
the walk back

Comments

[Doug]

Foto
Mount Maunganui flower with shoreline background!! Y'all rock!