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The intercity coach arrived late at Mount Maunganui so not a great start! We had to change coaches 3 times just to get to Whitianga! That said, we did end up arriving earlier than expected. God knows how.
It was early evening when we reached our hostel. We were greeted by a very helpful young lady named Sue who took us to our room which was in a lodge shared with 2 ladies from New Zealand and a guy from Spain.
We spent the evening walking around the small town and having dinner by the marina. We passed the small ferry boat that carries passengers from one side of the coast to the other saving a 40 minute drive. It's a bit of a joke....the two ports are 150 metres apart. If you had a bridge you could have walked across it in 2 mins or swum across it in 5 mins!! Nevertheless, it saves the extra drive.
The next day we hired the Toyota RAV 4 which had been sitting outside our hostel looking lonely! We hired it to take us to Coromandel Town to see the tourist sights but mainly to take a ride on the mountain railway. Mark spoke with Sue our receptionist who managed to get the last two seats for us on the train at 3:15pm!
We had plenty of time to get there until things started going wrong! The paperwork for the vehicle hire was sorted out but as we approached the vehicle Mark noticed the tax disc had expired. The owner hadn't realised this so she had to dash into town to renew it. When she got back with the tax disc and placed it in the car we were ready to go. Mark put his foot down on the pedal and it wouldn't start. That's because the battery was flat! The jump leads were then out to get it started! We were gradually running out of time getting to Coromandel. When the vehicle did start we were told not to switch off the engine
until we get to our destination which was 30 minutes down the road to Coromandel Town otherwise the battery would die. Avis or Hertz this certainly wasn't.
After bombing across the winding mountians roads, we got to the train in one piece which was a surprise as the 15 year old RAV4 had a shocking rattle with awful handling. Anyway we parked up at the railway and jumped on the little train. It was a 1 hour round trip on New Zealand's only narrow gauge mountain railway featuring superb views. A guy named Barry Brickell acquired 60 acres of hilly land and built the 2.6km railway taking him 32 years. There were some viaducts, 3 short tunnels, 2 spirals and 5 reversing points required to elevate the railway up to the terminus at the Eyefull Tower (nice play on words) for fab views. We went the same way down hill enjoying every bit of it.
On the way back we stopped off for a drink in the town and then headed to New Chums beach! Nothing special about this beach but we were told to go there as it was rated as one of the top ten in the world. We have seen better beaches elsewhere so it was a bit of a waste of time as it was a little hyped. Afterwards, we rushed back to our hostel so we could spend the evening at "The Lost Spring" which is a day spa set in a residential street. It is, however, set amongst tropical bushes with sculptured pathways wandering into a grotto and a crystal cave. It was a pleasant evening of relaxing in hot thermal waters. An
unexpected little gem.
After the time spent relaxing, we had dinner to cook. We had some fish left over so we cooked a stir fry with plenty of vegetables, noodles and spice. Yum yum.
The next day we drove 30 minutes to Cathedral Cove. A fantastic beach location. A really great place to stop and unwind and relax on a secluded beach. It did take 45 minutes to walk there from the car park but so worth it.
We then left here and drove 5 minutes down the road to Hot Water Beach where thermal activity causes steam to rise from the beach but only in a very small section. We dug a deep hole in the sand and sat in thermal water with other tourists. We had to build up the edges to keep the sea out. The timing has to be right to dig as the tide comes in right up the beach. The water temperature reaches 66 degrees celsius if you dug in one place; 30 feet in the wrong direction and the water that fills the hole you have dug is freezing cold (as we found out when we dug our first 2 holes). It's a little bit weird but so much fun.
After here we made our way back to town to give the hire car back.
We then took a stroll around the small town stopping off at Cafe Ninas for a coffee, the local supermarket to grab dinner, and a quick game of mini golf.
The evening was spent cooking our beef stir fry and drinking wine!
The following morning we packed and left Whitianga by coach heading for Auckland arriving in time for the 2pm ferry across the bay to Waiheke Island for the night before leaving New Zealand.
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