Surfside One Bed & Breakfast Whangamata

... We nearly paid the price of capsizing for our troubles. Good laugh though. Cathedral Cove is a fairly sheltered beach with rock formations in the water and caves and arches. The sun was setting and casting great light on the many rock patterns. Lizzy spent more of the time running from one picture to the next in case it wouldn't turn out right if she walked. But you've gotta love it. Back at the hostel we all had a barbecue ...

... to Thames for "A nice drive" and to get a real NZ ice-cream only to find it shut and pouring with rain. Oh dear Mable was not best impressed and threatened to do harm to the entire NZ dairy industry if she didn't get one before she left the country. The ironic thing is that you could get one anywhere in Australia.... but not seen one here at all. Now ok, lets not exagerate the 309, it was a bit bumpy, the bends were horrendous and at right angles, there ...

... small inlet and catch the connecting bus on the other side. I got across but just missed the bus. I decided to walk and in doing so took several nice paths overlooking the Cooks Bay near which was a stone commemorating the Queen's visit 200 years after Captain Cook. Along the way I passed small seaside towns where I stopped for coffee and around lunchtime came to a small winery ...

... in the waters and left feeling rejuvenated and looking 10 years younger, right! Well we live in hope, don't we! It was a good experience and the setting out in the countryside was very peaceful. If you drive a few miles further out to the coast you will find the home of New Zealand's best fish and chips, this place has won awards several years on the trot and Jude treated us to Gurnard and Kumara chips, eating them right on the foreshore with the waves lapping at ...

... from an Indiana Jones movie!! From here we continued to Coromandel town and we went on a miniature railway ride up into the mountains and again had fantastic views out over the peninsular. We didn't stay the night here we carried on to the furthest northern point of the Coromandel to Fletcher's bay and parked the camper by the sea and stayed the night there instead. We collected some fire wood then i put my outdoor man to ...

... pouring rain. I still haven't had a good night sleep in this country. I'm hoping that changes tonight. It is beautiful here. Looking out on the land, the sea, the hills, the trees, this place might very well be enchanted. It is so amazingly green here. The trees look like they're going to come to life at any moment. It really is lovely. I've made a really wonderful friend. Despite the crazyness of the last several days, I'm really happy...

... symbol on it - a fern-like spiral which is in the Maori flag (also its very pretty!) We then went along the windy roads up the coast just a few kms to cathedral cove. We took a 40 min walk to a beautiful beach where a natural arc-like cave through the rock forms the cathedral. I couldn't resist and took a dip in the aqua-blue waters. Our stop for the evening took us up the coast again to ...

Went fishing yesterday and caught lots and lots of fish. The only problem was that all the fish I caught were teeny baby ones so we had to throw them back. Peter of course caught 3 massive fish, the biggest a 9kilo Kingfish which we are to eat tonight!! It was a bit gross when the bait was alive and trashing about splashing me with blood from its bucket of death. We also saw a shark!! It came to steal our kingfish which had to be bled (Ewgh!) over the side of the boat ...

... really is breath-taking. I followed the coast road from Thames up to Coromandel and then crossed over to the east coast. Even more stunning scenery and fantastic beaches on the way until I ended up in Whitianga. Arrived there on Sunday early evening and put the feet up (even niksen), still suffering from a bit of a head cold. Monday morning arrived and the old running shoes got a bit of a pounding. Still only a couple of weeks training left, so went for an easy half-hour ...

... dat niet zo prettig vind als iemand dat doet terwijl ik in de auto zit.
De tweede was een man, die eigenlijk iedere dag wel mensen oppikte en het erg gezellig vond. De derde een vrouw, die eigenlijk nooit alleen mensen meenam, maar ach, zo'n meisje als ik... :D. En de laatste was een erg aardige (en volgens mij best rijke) zakenman, oud genoeg om mijn opa te zijn, die ...