Another busy few days down here in New Zeleand.We left Wednesday for the Coromandal peninsula. It still amazes us with how long it takes to get from point A to point B down here. We thought.. only a few hours from Ruakaka to the Coromandal… I mean after all we will be on the main motorway. Ha Ha… try like 4 and 5 hours before we actually found a place to stay for the night. We just really should give up trying to estimate our drive times. We decided to do the route backwards so we are actually going up the east coast and back down the west coast. I thought theeast coast looked more interesting with more little towns to stop at. Once again… surprise… each spot on the map was more of a collection of residential homes and rental cottages and the beach.There wasn't a town to speak of.. no little shops to peruse. No cute little eateries. Just beach houses and big beautiful beaches. We stoped at Cathedral cove.. although the cathedral was closed so we didn't actually hike down to it... but the scenery was amazing. We finally landed in Coromandel town which is on the northern tip of the main highway. After camping and sleeping out of our car for the last month and a half we decided to splurg a little bit and rent a loft style house. It was the perfect thing to do. We just totally chilled for the last 3 days. Both of us were really missing the creature comforts of home.. i.e a kitchen, our own bathroom, couches, lights... etc. It poured down rain yesterday so it was especially nice to be inside.We are big fans of the discovery channel!

Saturday we went for a few short hikes. We saw a Kauri tree that had grown together so now the two trees were joined at the bottom. Apparently the trees started out as two small trees but as they grew they ran out of space so they merged. Pretty cool. We also saw some waterfalls and more bush... aka shurbs, ferns and trees. It was a nice activity for the afternoon.

After being in New Zealand for almost 2 months now... I think the appeal and beauty of NZ is starting to sink in. When we arrived we were a bit shocked with how empty it is here... the lack of people and the lack of modern conviences like cheap cell phones (it's $50 for 30min), abundent wifi and lots of cute little shops, a super market on every corner etc. We are now starting to realize that the absence of those things is what makes NZ so unique and appealing... you really can get away from it all. It's so laid back, so pristine and so untouched. Very few places are still this way. It's like we are in the US.. but only we stepped back in time about 50 years. Everyone says hi when you pass them on the street, the shop owners are friendly, the scenery is amazing (although a lot like our mountains back home) and it's just mellow. It's either farming or fishing here. Kiwis get up early and go to bed early. Life just moves at a different pace. Some of that we love... other parts not so much. It's pretty hard to escape our American routes. Ha ha

Today the sun is shinning, the weather has warmed up and we are headed to the Bay of Plenty. Hopefully there will be plenty to see! ha Ha We are both jonsing to get out and do some kiting as well. The Bay of Plenty is suppose to be good for that.

Cheers!

P.s Nick also wants me to add that the last few days have been a bit rough on Magen. The last day in Ruakaka, while kiteboarding, I broke 2 of my middle toes.. so my foot is black and blue. It's made getting around challenging as I can't actually put weight on my foot.. so I more walk on the side of my foot or my heal. We are looking for activities such as horse back riding and kayaking... then I won't have to walk. But I haven't given up an adventure yet! How one might ask did I break my toes kiting. Well it's actually quite simple...we were kiting in a spot that had a lot of current... and when I crashed my board got sucked to the bottom and stuck in the sand... when I tried to retrieve it the ocean waves pulled the board over my toes and then sucked it back into the sand.. my toes being between the board and the bottom. Ouch. And if that wasn't enough.. Sunday afternoon I came down with some sort of 24 hour flu bug.. so i spent the day resting on the couch. It wasn't food poisioning as Nick never got sick. Lucky him. Once again.. glad we had the house.. and a comfy couch. Nick made a great dr. I'm feeling better today.. although still stickign with mild food, mash potatoes are my fav. Ha Ha And on that note.. we are off to the Bay of Plenty!