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The Coromandel Peninsula
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We spent the morning checking out lovely old wooden colonial buildings in the Thames, some of which were a little strange, but all had lots of history and they create a nice atmosphere for the town. After another lunch by the coast we went to see the gold mining museum but to T's disappointment (and Sara's relief) it was closed for restoration. Instead we went to a butterfly and orchid farm which was very hot and humid but lovely. There were hundreds of huge butterflies of all different species flying around and some exotic birds as well. That and all the beautiful orchids had T happily snapping away but we wont bore you with pictures of flowers. Then we headed on north up the coast on a narrow winding road up and down steep hills stopping off at lots of lookouts to get gorgeous views of the coast and hills on our way to Coromandel Town. This is a smaller and even more pretty town in a lovely bay. We found a good park and not bothered with cooking we got some fish and kumara (sweet potato) chips! Great. We then stayed up half the night talking to an english girl who had lived in OZ, getting advice for our upcoming travels there.
The next day we worked off the fish and chips with good walk up to an old Pa (a fortified Maori village) through the forest along the coast. We got excellent 360 degree views from the top and it was a splendidly clear and sunny day. We were tempted to go for a swim but on dipping our hands in we quickly decided against it.
We drove on to Hot Water Beach and had coffee in a lovely wee cafe on a hill and there we also rented spades for the afternoon. Coming up to low tide we, and about 20 other backpackers, descended upon the beach to dig holes in the sand to make little hot tubs. T engineered the master of all pools in the perfect position just between the hot and cold water sources so we had a perfect temperature. He then created a hot water channel which could be opened and closed to release more hot water into the pool as necessary. It was pure bliss lying there with the sea right in front of us and the sun going down. It was also quite funny to see so many people with their spades and swimmies doing the same thing. We ran into the sea for a 'refreshing' dip then dived back to the hot pool - it's meant to be invigorating! It was an excellent evening and we stayed 'till it started getting dark, then drove a few Kms to Hahei Beach where we camped for the night.
The next days adventure was to see Cathedral Cove. We parked at the beach beside our camp and went for a lovely walk along the beach, although it was short lived as the trail led us up and down a few hills. As we walked we got gorgeous views of the bay and its islets and even though the day was a bit cloudy at one time the sun shone gloriously through the clouds and was reflected in the sea. We took a short detour along the way to Gemstone Cove but failed to find out why it is called that - great place to snorkel though. Then on to the main attraction, the gorgeous bay and beach which are totally secluded and have lots of sea-carved rock formations. The name comes from the large archway leading from 1 cove to the next. The water however, comes in to block the passage but we ran through between waves which was fun although we had to run back quickly as the tide was coming in fast.
Once we got back to the Spaceship it started to rain so we decided to have a driving day and drove south out of Coromandel to Matamata where we lucked out with our campervan park as staying there we get free entry to the hot springs. Bonus! More thumbnails ...
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