Brenton Lodge Coromandel Peninsula Whangamata

... country on the travelpod page, I'm going to have to split it into one entry per stop, which is almost one entry per day. For these entries, the date will reflect the last day of my visit in that place. So, here goes my story of the North Island. The first day was a trip to Hahei Beach. Our bus driver, Kerry, took us around Auckland for his many pickups. He used to be the head driver for Stray, but left over ...

Long weekend in the Coromandel In October we headed out on our first big trip in NZ - a weekend away with the gang in the Coromandel Peninsula. We all loaded up into Beastie (Mim and Bailey's people carrier) and headed down late one Friday evening. Ed (Mim's bro) and Lyn had spent the past couple of hours in the Belgium beer cafe so were in good spirits when we picked them up which made the 5 hour camel trek amusing to say the least - a slab of road beers ...

Although I haven't mentioned it but my wife Sue and I are trekking and travelling together. Almost finished packing. What a fiasco! We are trekking in Nepal, so we have to pack for tramping and cold conditions and then down into India for a tour around. It will be a bit warmer, so we may have to send some trekking gear home. At this present time we have 2 sleeps to go before we head off in the big bird. Can,t wait

... few minutes of widening we had a perfect cosy hole for two and spent a good hour lounging within. Alex picked a few mussels from a rock in the sea and we tried to cook these for a snack in the thermal spring that was feeding our warm hollowing by burying them in a hole in the hottest part of the beach. Unfortunately even after a good 15 ...

We got into Auckland after flying all night and landed on the 7th. We then realized that we had booked the hostel for the 6th. We also booked the camper van starting the 7th. We ended up having to pay for the hostel we didn't sleep in, which was a bummer. After a long bus ride into the city (but right near where we would have slept) we picked up ...

... alquilamos unas palas y cavamos hoyos en la orilla, donde un área geotérmica de unos 50m hace que salga agua hirviendo del suelo. También vimos los kauris, los árboles más grandes del mundo y considerados casi sagrados por los Maoris. Tristemente nuestra ruta llega a su fin. El final de los cámpings y las cabinas sin cuarto de baño y también el final de paisajes de ensueño.

... asked me to come live with him there (promised to get me a sponsorship). He apparently has an affinity for Americans. Haha. Note especially the pictures of the "Big Tree", a large Pohutukawa that is over 200 years old. (edit: sorry, pics wouldn't load last time, here they are!!!)

... or if you are googling these places to find better pics, then you will now that the Coromandel Peninsula has some of the most breath-taking scenery on the North Island. The interior of the Peninsula is dominated by a number of ranges of mountains interspersed with rolling hills and rivers. And on the west and east coast (the west coast especially) the mountains and the thick bush drop right down onto the coast. A few of the pics here give you some idea of the amazing scenery ...

... before we arrived at the falls which was nice. We returned to our motel and cracked open a bottle of wine. We went out for dinner at 2000ish - good job too, there was only one restaurant open in the main street (which was bustling with cafe/bars in the day time). This has been a lasting impression of NZ - don't expect much to be open after 2200 (maybe it was only because it was just out of season?). The food was good though (although we were both slightly drunk).

... and stopped for lunch in the small beach town of Whangamata. This was where we stayed for Easter fifteen years ago and is the site of some of the most famous episodes in the Wilkinson Family's Most Embarrassing Home Videos, so it was good to have a look around.

Among the memories I have of Whangamata is that it was the first place I ever played mini-golf. Somewhat to my surprise I easily found the mini-golf course, but it was long abandoned ...