Well, here we are. At the end. It has been some ways a very fast and also a very slow 5 months here in New Zealand. After a rigerous semester with 8ams and long days to get through, I am done. So what better way to celebrate the almost end than by going on another road trip? Except minus the whole flat tire thing.

So, last Thursday morning we (me, Bethany, and Vanessa) rented a car, dubbed Lilly, and set off to the notoriously gorgeous Coromandel penunsula. And beautiful it is. There is a reason why New Zealand is hailed as one of the most pristene and amazing countries, and surely this area of NZ is even more pristene. It is the Cape Cod of Auckland. People rarely live there all year round and so there are just less people there, and those that do call it home do so with pride and an understanding that it is to be left alone, and not for development or big touristy destinations.

Our first stop (after getting VERY lost and having to stop to ask where we were) was Hot Water Beach, which not suprisingly...is a hot water beach. And when they say hot, they mean f***ING hot. Digging down just a few inches in the sand you can feel the intense heat from the "hot spots" that then heat water that pours in. One pool we made was too hot to stand in, let alone sit in (and later we were informed it can get as hot as 65 degrees celcius). Even though it started to drizzle for a moment, it was like our own personal hot tub...until the tourists showed up and started taking pictures....then it was time to go.

To the next part of our journey, which was to a scenic reserve (frankly, all of New Zealand is a scenic reserve) which we waltzed into, disregarding a sign and chained gate. After we went in a large circle and realized we were back at the beginning and remarking on the poor quality of the track did we see that the sign said that the trail was CLOSED for renovations...oops. Well, it was pretty anyway, and just reinforces my need to read signs better (ask me sometime how my car almost got towed).

After this little detour we went to Cathedral Cove, or as I like to say, Narnia. THAAAATs right, from the second movie, you know when they go back to Narnia and are on the train station holding hands and they arrive all of a sudden on a perfectly sunny, sandy, blue water beach with what seems like impossible rock formations....THAT is where we went. It is, like most things worth seeing, hard to find and a pretty good walk through the forest to get to, but when we arrived...well there is a reason why it was used to represent a mythical land. It is truly fantastical.

It is not rare nowadays to be asking myself if places like this can actually exist.

A note on the hostels we stayed at. The frist one, which had free kayakes that we used to explore the local river/stream, was amazing and beautiful and had a good stock of movies, had the most inexplicably irritated owner. She seemed pissed that we were there, and then declared as she was showing other people around that we looked the same as some other people who arrived in a snooty voice. I dont know WHAT was going on with her, but she seemed none too pleased to have guests...which is really a charming quality for a backpackers owner...oh well, we all have our bad days.

The second night, in Hahei, was in a great hostel with a chipper owner, who even found out that there were wild kiwis in the area, huzzah!

Unfortunatly for my avid readers, there were no shenangans with the tire this time, although I did fear for my life for one 25 km stretch of driving. I, wanting a nice coastal drive, took a shortcut to get to it throgh what I thought was an actual road, but what turned out to be over 20 kms of "unsealed" curvy road. I must have gotten an ulcer just from those 45 minutes. Oh man. But the coastal drive was worth it. This trip has confirmed my suspisions, there is no ugly drive in New Zealand, nor is there a shortage of sheep.

Now that my exams are completely over and I am faced with the daunting task of packing which lets face it...I wont do until the night before.