The Coromandel Peninsula

Some more on the art gallery.. It was full of unique pieces from Maori culture. This included sculptures and paintings from different eras. The museum itself was very modern and we loved the sleek architecture! There was also a kid-zone where kids could make masks or get interactive with the computers. The featured gallery was about the Kangaroo Gang.. Some kid book I suppose. Anyway very cool and I took pix to show the kiddies in my life!! We stopped by a park afterwards and this was close to Auckland University. It was a beautiful park with a fountain and all. Loved it! 

Ok, after we left Mt. Eden, we headed for our first stop-- The Coromandel Peninsula. The drive from Auckland was about 3 hours and it was pitch black since we left in the eve. B.t.w, the stars come out at 6pm here! P drove so well and we really didn't know what was upon us on the road. Boy, were we amazed the next morning after we left our campsite! Green, green, green!!! Fields, hills, pastures and tons of open land around here. It's jaw-dropping beauty out here. I'm taking so many pix and hoping they'll justify this magical place. 

Once we arrived at Hot Water Beach park late that night- we cooked some burgers on the grill. We were starving & they were delicious! *Oh yeah, grocery here is $$$ and we bought food for the week that would be close to half the cost back in CA. This included milk, sandwich goods, burgers etc. Odd thing here is that eggs are not refrigerated! We bought em anyway and they taste fine!! Prices here are steep and that applies for dining as well. A small dinner for two was about $90-$100 and breakfast was close to $50! We even shared food at breakfast. We were expecting high costs but that was outrageous! 

After our quick din. Plamen (naturally) wanted to go check out the campsite and the Bouncy Pillow attraction they had. It was too cold and creepy- I asked him to go back to our car! Don't worry, he got to see it the next morning. Hah!! We headed to sleep shortly after that b/c we had an early wake up call for "Hot Water Beach" since we needed a low-tide time. Alarm went off for 0600 but we went back to bed for a lil' longer.. Hello! We are on vacay!!! Once we got up and ready (actually just me b/c of course Plamen was already on his toes), we drove down to the beach. Like I mentioned earlier, the 5 minute drive there was so pretty I thought I had it good. Nope! We got to the place and I was completely beside myself. The ocean, the rocks, the sand, the view-- perfection!!! Life is good when your point of view matches that of the sea!! We hurried down for a spot at this spectacular beach and Plamen worked a shovel to dig us a nice "pool" in the sand. It was tough because this beach gets it's name from the hot geysers below it. The water is boiling hot!!! You gotta watch your step and I ran in the ocean (like a wild animal) many times to cool off me toes!! Anyway, I took this opp. to return to the RV to make us some sandwiches and get a bucket in case we needed a cold water refresher from the ocean later on. I came back to a nice hot spot in the sand! After soaking for an hour or so- we jumped in the ocean for a dip. Best feeling ever!! This hot spot was popular for locals and tourists as it filled up quick! There were families & groups (some looked about our age) from NZ, Europe & USA! Even though we didn't chat with anyone, you'll see in the pix that we were quite snug with them!   We got a couple good hours there before the high tide came. Once it did, we packed up & left for Cathedral Cove.

I really thought things could not get better but C.C. blew me out of the water! We parked at the lot and took in the view of the islands in the ocean in front of us. As we made our way down, signs showed us that the cove was another 45 mins away. Sounded like a mini-hike so back to the RV to swap out our jandals ;) for durable shoes. As we made our way through the scenic forest, we ended up at some steep stairs before we got to the cove. The best part about getting there is that you don't immediately spot it! Then, we walked through some bushes and I started saying, ok- complaining "Where is it?? Do I have to swim to it?!". Nope! I turned the corner and there it was to my left- like nothing I had ever seen before. Thinking about it now literally gets me worked up! This giant cove was absolutely out of this world! We walked through it and it led to a small beach where we (finally) ate our sandwiches & snacked a bit. Plamen wandered around and I just relaxed on the soft sand. The weather was good and the waves were calm.. The Pacific Ocean as I'd never experienced it before. Very few people & so extraordinarily serene. From there, it was even easier to spot out the islands so that was very cool. As you'll see in the pix, many are named after the Maori. We hung for about an hour before we trekked back up. I wasn't ready to part ways so I did many double-takes! Oh yeah, I also wanted to avoid the flight of stairs back up to the hike- which before I forget was an easy hike with minimal incline. I was mesmerized by lots of exotic trees & plants too!! There were also farm animals grazing away along our trail.. Something out of a storybook fantasy!! We stopped at a snorkel site too that was in the same proximity. Finally, we made it back to the car and headed back to the campsite. 

From there, we drove down to Tauranga (situated in the Bay of Plenty). We left in the eve. again and the road in the wops wops was winding for a long time- I felt so sick! Thankfully, we made a pit stop at LiquourLand to stock up for the week and that made me feel somewhat better. :) All jokes aside, we were close to our destination and that was a huge relief! It had been a 3 hour long drive from Coromandel to get there. More to come on Tauranga and hot thermal springs in the sulphuric & stinky town of Rotorua. ;)

Kiwi English translations:

Jandals- sandals

Wops wops- out in the middle of nowhere 

Thanks for reading & lots of love to those at home!!!