Relaxed, refreshed and reminisced

Wow! It's been ages since I last blogged! Guess I'm slack... what a revelation!

So, where were we? Oh yea, Hamilton... I spent just over 6 hours adding the last post to this blog in an internet cafe there.. Know what it cost me? $11! Awesome!

In the morning, I took off from Hamilton and headed north, past a few small country communities - including Te Aroha with its Mokena Geyser - before coming to the notable town of Paeroa.. There is a popular drink (lemon mixed with spring water from the area) in this country called L&P (Lemon and Paeroa - "World Famous in New Zealand since ages ago") which originated from this town.. and you can't half tell! If there was ever a town that based its entire existence on one piece of merchandise, or tried its hardest to capitalise on the one product to come out of it, this would be it - everywhere you look there are L&P flags, signs on buildings, even businesses with L&P incorporated into the title.. not to mention the two huge bottles of L&P that you can have a photo taken with (which, of course i did!)

After this, I soldiered on further north to the smallish, but very popular peninsula east of Auckland known as the Coromandel Peninsula. This place is a popular weekend getaway for Aucklanders and other kiwis alike mainly for its relaxed atmosphere and beautiful scenery. The first place you come to travelling up the west coast of this piece of land is Thames (in which I have stayed before with the French bodyguards, JC and Julien). I decided to stay here for a couple more nights. The remainder of that day, I was generally lazing around on the beach, trying to re-build my tan from scratch even though the days of quality tanning sunshine have long gone, and looking for interesting shells. The next day, however, was a little more active when I undertook a day-long tramp up to the dramatic Pinnacles (759m) in the Kauaeranga Valley overlooking Thames and its Firth. Near the top it became extremely muddy, extremely slippery, especially on the smooth metal bars that were installed to make it easier to climb to the peak. It was also extremely windy at the peak and the clouds refused to lift until I was about to start my descent again after having been up there for around an hour. I think that just the act of accomplishing a difficult task like this walk is what gives me the most satisfaction - not necessarily the view from the top. Born to tramp..?

Leaving Thames earlyish on the Sunday, heading west to the opposite shore of the Firth of Thames, I travelled along the coast back towards Auckland, through Manukau, to get a feel for the lifestyle in this tiny corner of the country - relaxed as always. After this, I looped back through Thames and followed the highway along the impressive, stony, shell-laden coast to the town after which the peninsula was named. Again, there was not much to do in Coromandel Town per se (apart from mussel farming), but like I said people don't come here for the fantastic shopping or entertainment facilities. In the morning, the weather was fine so I decided to go for a drive up to Fletcher Bay at the tip of the peninsula. On the way I attempted to find the beginning of a track which leads to the summit of Mt. Moehau, the Coromandel's highest point, but it turned out to be a little too well hidden, and so I continued on. The simple majesty and land's-end feel of Fletcher Bay and its surrounding areas reminded me very much of Cape Reinga. Just don't try and drive on the beach there, as I found out the hard way... I had to ask the nice local DOC officer to drag me out with his tractor! Oops..

After this ordeal, I took another road almost back up to the tip of the peninsula again, but this time along the eastern side, past the beautiful Port Charles to the end of the road at Stony Bay - 3 hours walk from Fletcher Bay. I took a short stroll about half way along this walkway before turning back to chill out at the (stony) beach for a bit longer. The majority of roads north of Coromandel Town are winding and unsealed which I am very used to, but for some reason they just seemed to stretch on forever here on my way back down. I sat up admiring the stars for most of this night.

Morning came and the road to my next destination was short but I had plans to visit a few places along the way so I left early. Turns out that Waiau Waterworks (a place recommended to me by Theresa) was closed that day and also another walkway was closed due to logging so that removed about a half a day of activities and I arrived in Whitianga well before lunchtime. Because the skies were again clear with the forecast not looking so good, I figured I'd take advantage and visit some of the fine beaches north of the town. All the beaches around the eastern side of the peninsula are really quite white, stretching and sandy, whereas the western beaches tend to be more black, stony and covered with driftwood. The eastern beaches of Otama and Opito definitely fall into the former category and I decided to go for a relax, dip and run along the first of these for a good few hours before heading back to Whitianga for the night. This town, in my opinion, is the most lively and interesting on the peninsula.

After watching the sunrise the following day on a very crisp morning I drove around the Whitianga Harbour to visit the huge limestone arch and lovely beach at Cathedral Cove, then onto a place known simply as Hot Water Beach. This beach has natural hot water springs which run down to the ocean. Within a few hours of low tide, you can go down and dig yourself a hole to make your own hot pool. Very cool. I met a couple of gals there, Daphne and Laura, who I met up with that night for dinner and drinks at the local bar. It was karaoke night. I don't do karaoke. Well, I thought I didn't.. I was somehow persuaded, not at all helped along by a few beers I'm sure, to get up there. I thought I'd go for a blast from the past and sing one of the songs I used to sing back in good old "Rizn" (my highschool band) days.. "It's been a while" by Staind. Shit, I haven't sung in front of people since I left my last band 2 years ago... But it was awesome fun (and Laura missed it)! Laura and another girl from her hostel got up there aswell to sing their hearts out to the classic, "I will survive".

Following another couple of hours of driving in the morning, I had left the Coromandel region and entered the Bay of Plenty region having arrived again in Tauranga where I was to spend the night. From there, I was on my way to Whakatane and the beginning of the final leg of my travels in Aotearoa...

Photos:

1. L&P&Me - Paeroa

2. The main form of transport in Thames

3. Almost at the top - The Pinnacles

4. Oh no, there's more???

5. Thames to Coromandel

6. That is Fletcher Bay

7. Ooops..

8. On Opito beach

9. Watching the sunrise in Whitianga... Brrrrr...

10. Cathedral Cove

11. Aaahhh, that's better... Hot Water Beach (that's Laura w the shovel, Daphne next to her)

12. I took this cool snap of the moon's reflection over Buffalo beach in Whitianga

13. I'm still amazed at how they did that in 1769!