Celadon Coromandel

... peninsula. From there, I walked up to Lucas Lookout on the Tokatea Lookout Walk and had an amazing view of the entire Coromandel/Thames region. To the west was Coromandel Town, tucked along the Firth of Thames, surrounded by deep bays filled with magnificent blue and green waters, interrupted by lush, rugged islands scattered off the coast like discarded scraps of land. To the east was an equally rugged path; valleys and peaks leading to rocky coasts along ...

... of my chart to see what really comes of it. I did find it really quite interesting though.<br><br>Aside from becoming a fairy-worshipping pagan, not much is new. I've had a couple of good days. Work has been fine, not too taxing and relatively enjoyable. I had the day off yesterday and took my car in to get a general servicing. I ended up paying a bit more than I had hoped, but oh well.<br><br>I also had my first hitchhiking ...

... home for coffee before I was set to work harvesting carob pods. After that I had to weed an awful little section and plant some strawberries. I was then set to work hauling all the rush and limbs that the visiting chainsaw crew (a nice fella named Hugh and Josh, his son) had cut down. After another good lunch, we four wwoofers took off to hike up to Karuna Falls (Karuna is sanskrit for "loving tenderness"), which sits on the volcanic ridge over ...

... down a twisty track; a brilliant part where you could hide behind a screen and squirt water at each other by pumping a handle, etc etc etc. My personal highlight was a bit where there was a pump which seemingly operated a shower. Danielle was careful to stand well out of the way when pumping so as not to get wet, but it turned out that the pump sprayed a jet of water from the bushes right at Danielle. I laughed a lot.<br><br>There was also a great kids ...

Welcome to the last entry ever for this trip! We have slowed down a little since being in Auckland but decided that we would have one more outing to see the sights. We had planned that at sometime or other we would visit Hot Water Beach where you can feel the thermal world move beneath your feet. It was a long trip from Auckland not because of distance so much but more due to the ...

... up on the hill which over looked the whole of Whitianga and the ocean. The vista was absolutely breath taking, stunning. It was a very modern build and the guy was German?? He was the double of my father - had my father's favourite green t-shirt on, baggy tracksuit bottoms on and piercing blue eyes like him too. He was tall and very skinny so he looked like my father when he was very ill and losing weight during his chemo. So this B &amp; B was an immediate non-starter ...

... but in the evening Katrin and I went to a pilates class, which was taught by Jess from the cafe next door. It wasn't nearly as difficult as I have been led to believe that it should be by various people who do it at home, so I probably wasn't doing it properly. Still, it was enjoyable, and it's always nice to get out and meet a few different people. Wednesday 28th May This morning Katrin and I were raking the weeds out of the pond, just like Abi and I ...

18/04/2008 Nicht weit von Tairua entfernt, machten wir heut schon den ersten Stop am "Hot Water Beach", der Touristenatraktion auf der Coromandelhalbinsel. An diesem Strand kann man bei Ebbe ein Loch in den Sand graben und eskommt warmes/heisses Wasser heraus! Leider wurde heute aus irgendwelchen Gruenden nicht richtig Ebbe, das Wasser ging einfach nicht weg, also konnten wir auch kein Loch graben... naja, nicht ...

"Ouch". I just looked at my bank account balance. I splurged on a few things while in Tauranga. A new jacket, fuel, a warrant for my car, new tyres. More fuel... I'm looking forwards to selling the *******n car. It is a headach. And a money pit. I finished work on Friday, though I don't think I put in a ful day all week. Contracting is bitter-sweet. I get paid more and can turn down work, but on slow days I can't really charge my ...

... is a little bit alternative (although I don't think that anywhere with that many estate agents can really be called such!) and attracts the artistic community as well as those that enjoy the idyllic peaceful location. This was reflected in the hostel, where our double room turned out to be in the 'Hippie House', a tin shack by the river (cue soothing bubbling noises) with stained glass windows, no curtains and all sorts of knick-knacks. Apparently people come specially from ...