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Day 30 - 38
After a few fun filled days in the middle of the north island we had planned to spend a couple of nights in the Coromandel peninsula then a few north of Auckland in the 'Northlands' before returning our spaceship. However, after another long day of driving and realising it was a national bank holiday we decided to give the north a miss and chill in the beautiful coromandel for the week.
With a lack of reasonably priced campsites in the area, we stayed in a Spacestation just down the road from Hot Water Beach. This allowed us $5 off per person and they gave us a free spade too. I should probably explain the spade bit... beneath Hot Water Beach is a geothermal area so when you dig down in certain areas on the beach, you will find your feet getting very warm.
Every night, hundreds of people head down with their spades and dig themselves a little pool to sit in. After digging a lovely pool for a while, we finally found out that we had been digging in the wrong place. There only seemed to be a small area of the beach situated on a hot vein and the people in those pools were not going to move anytime soon.
The following morning, with low tide approaching we dodged the swarms of people with their spades and headed to Hahei to do the 45min walk to Cathedral Cove (part of Narnia was filmed here). Cathedral Cove is a natural enormous rock arch separating two beautiful beaches. This is again another touristy spot but getting up early paid off and when we arrived we were there with only two other couples. This meant pictures empty-of-tourists of the rock. After a few games of frisbee and a quick dip the hordes of tourists descended and we headed on.
Nearby is a place called Cook's Beach. You're probably getting sick of this bloke but this is where he first landed in NZ (before going on to discover Australia). Next to the beach was a lovely river which had an equally lovely house on it. The house next door resembled Tracy Island.
That night we cooked some local snapper we had bought earlier in the day with some potatoes, corn on the cob and lemon - yum!
Right at the top of the Coromandel peninsula is a cluster of DOC sites so from Hot Water Beach on the east side we headed west on the 309 road (named for taking 3 hrs 9 mins on horse and cart) caking our spaceship with dirt and then headed north along the rugged west coast. Getting hungry after dirtying our car, we stopped at Coromandel Town and invested in a lunch fit for a queen (or Princess Pip) at the Mussel Kitchen, guess what we ate...They were pretty delicious and gigantic in comparison to the ones back home (Kiwis have a different kind of mussel here called the green-lipped mussel).
The next few days were spent relaxing to the max in various DOC sites.
The 7th February came round very quickly. We had to get up early to ensure we could get across Auckland to make our surf lesson in time.
The conditions were perfect and the waves less fierce than in Australia. Our instructor reminded Pip of Sid the sloth from ice age, which was weird because his name was Sid too.
It was then time to get Black Hole back to the final Space Depot in Auckland and empty her of all our junk. Fortunately, they didn't charge us for the missing hub cap and pan lid. I'm not sure whether this was because I was doing my best to distract her when she was inspecting it!
We're now back to the hostel lifestyle and enjoying the hot showers and facilities but not so much living out of a bag again and the snorers!
On our final full day in Auckland (and New Zealand), we decided to just explore the city on foot. We started by heading to the port where we admired the large elegant boats, all of which Matt seemed to want! Before making our way to the city's most famous landmark the sky tower. This tower claims to be the tallest in the southern hemisphere but we are sure a couple of buildings in Oz claimed to be so...anyway we took a short lift ride to the top. The lift ride was a little daunting with a glass panelled floor section allowing you to see into the lift shaft. Occasionally the outside wall would also be clear helping to remind us how high we were going.
At the top the views where phenomenal. Giving us a panoramic view of the city, harbour and beyond.
One attraction to the tower is the ability to jump off it from 190ish metres. Unlike a bungy where you bounce back and are tied around your feet, this one is more of a free fall, with you connected to two wires which slow you down and land you safely at the bottom. We both agreed although the fastest way down it wasn't for us!
With aching legs from walking and shopping (and repercussions of surfing) we finally headed back to our hostel to reduce our bags for the next part of our journey.
We have both loved New Zealand and hope to one day come back, but for now the next part of the adventure is about to begin. Goodbye New Zealand and Bula Fiji :).
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