Hello folks! It is now Sunday 3rd of October here and the Summer is coming, though it’s not quite reached Wellington yet. This last week saw myself and Melissa head north for the sunny climes of the Coromandel Peninsula, more specifically Whitianga. I’ve been here twice previously and loved it both times and on this occasion I was the tour guide for the native.
We flew up to Auckland on Saturday morning, got our ‘ace’ rental car (DJ Reg) and headed south and east towards the ‘mandel. We stopped in Thames for a spot of lunch and came across these guys in a display outside one of the shops.
I had expected it to be really busy seeing as it was school holidays but it was rather like a ghost town. After this we headed on up the west coast of the peninsula passing through many small settlements before heading up and over to the east coast.
Once we’d checked in and dumped our stuff at the motel we went in search of the supermarket. I thought I knew roughly where it was but we had a wee scenic tour of the town before we happened upon it.
On the Sunday we walked into town along the beach and checked out a few shops and check the tides for Hot Water Beach. We then wandered back to get the car and drove back to get the ferry over to the other side of the harbour. We wandered up the hill and explored a couple of beaches over there (and when I say explore I mean paddled the length of the beach and back). The sun had come out now so it was most pleasant. We even had a few goes on this rope swing we found.On Monday we set off in DJ Reg towards Hahei and Cathedral Cove. We stopped at Hahei beach first and went for a wander before grabbing a couple of snacks and heading to the track to Cathedral Cove.
Having made the mistake last time not to explore the beach on the other side of the ‘Cathedral’ I was happy to have the chance to do this now, but when we got down there we discovered the passage was blocked off due to the danger of rocks falling on heads. Whether this had happened to a tourist previously I don’t know, but it was most disheartening. As we were pondering on what to do we saw someone coming back through so decided just to go on over anyway. Thankfully no rocks fell on us, but I did trip over the rope on the other side falling flat on my face (what a plonker!). We spent a happy hour on the ‘other side’ and because of the warnings we mostly had the place to ourselves which was lovely.
When we came back through we explored a cave on the other side of the cove and Melissa decided to climb what has become known as ‘our rock’ and after a little (ok quite a lot) of persuasion I did too. It wasn’t particularly high or anything but I bruise easily. Honestly.
After Cathedral Cove we headed to Hot Water Beach and had a look round a fab little shop with lovely jewellery and house and garden stuff. We then headed onto the beach and played around in the hot water for a bit before exploring the rest of the beach. At the other end was a gorgeous little stream that we sat in for a while (and to be honest, I could have stayed there forever). 
On the Tuesday we decided to go on a boat trip around the sea caves and so headed into town about 12, read a bit by the harbour and then met our fellow sailors at the jetty at 1.15. The trip lasted 2 hours and took us south along the coast to some awesome caves. The first one we only just made - if we’d been any later the tide would have been too low. I think this was my favourite so I’m very glad we did. 
On our return to shore we picked up some fush and chups before heading back to base camp to have a rest and a change for our venture to the hot pools. This was very pleasant though I do wish they'd left it silent rather than playing island music.
On our last day in the Coromandel we decided to head further south to explore Tairua and Whangamata.
It was a bit breezy but we managed to find a nice spot at the southern most end of Whangamata beach and spent a happy time there both before and after lunch.
In the evening we treated ourselves to a meal out at
the local Thai restaurant and then on an impulse drove to a beach that myself and Sal had discovered on our visit. The stars were unbelievable as there was no light pollution anywhere close. I can’t tell you what constellations I saw but I must have seen a lot.
On Thursday we headed back to Auckland to drop off DJ Reg and were met by Phillipa (a friend I’d worked with at the Galleries) and taken on a tiki tour of a damp and chilly Auckland and some of its playgrounds.
We also visited the Museum. Later on Melissa’s cousin Angela picked us up from Phillipa’s and took us back to her house where we were to stay the night. We popped out to grab some tea and all had an early night as we all had early starts.
Friday. What can I say? Friday was the day of the EPIC journey from Auckland to Wellington on the Tranzscenic railway. At least that was the plan. The journey began at 7.25am and was supposed to take 12 hours (a daunting enough prospect in itself). During the week we’d heard about a couple of slips on parts of the railway line and a crash near Wellington (due to the bad weather) but hoped it would be cleared, or at least that only the latter part of the journey would be affected. Alas it was not to be. When we got to Hamilton we learned we would have to get onto coaches from National Park (halfway down the line) as there’d been a slip that morning somewhere after NP. Because of this it meant the train no longer had the necessary engine for pushing the train back to Auckland and so we had to wait an hour for a new engine to come along. We then proceeded to NP and the day that had started wet and grey turned into a nice one (weather wise at least). To cut a looooong story short, we arrived back in Wellington only an hour later than scheduled so we were lucky in that I suppose. The most disappointing thing was that we’d taken the train to see a different view of the journey south and to pass over some fab bridges and gorges. We missed all the bridges and gorges as it was and so what could have taken an hour on a plane ended up taking 13 hours, and for what? Saying that though, it could have been worse, and though we were exhausted at the end of it, it didn’t feel too bad an experience. And there endeth the adventure.
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