The Trip

We headed straight to Auckland from Hamilton early in the morning partly to avoid traffic but mostly because we wanted to drop of the rattling Daewoo before something actually fell off it. And we had to transfer all our gear which had filled the car for the last month into our room, and eventually our backpacks.

Frankly we had no idea what we should be doing in Auckland other than packing for our flight (now only a few hours away - think of us trapped in our Deep Vein Thrombosis Seats for the next 21 hours). But one recommendation we can make is the Auckland Museum. This contains exhibitions of Mauri artifacts, boats, weapons and an entire house in addition to NZ natural history collection and war memorial. It's donation-only which is great value but you can also see the Manaia performance which is a very impressive display of Mauri culture.

We've put up the last set of pictures from NZ in the photo section. Next time we're online will be back in Ireland and we'll tell you about our 3 very cold days in Boston and potential Die Hard 2 experience (I'm sorry but snow, airports and Christmas just makes me think of Bruce Willis).

Going to the Cormandel Peninsula was recommended to us because of Hot Water Beach, where at low tide you dig into the sand a little hole for yourself, so you can sit in the hot water and relax. Supposed to be nice. HOwever we didn't have enough time in Coromandel and never made it here.

We stayed in a lovely hostel in Whitianga, which faces out onto a beautiful beach. We went bone carving, which was good fun and not too difficult or expensive. After lunch we headed to Hahei, to go snorkelling (there is a snorkel trail in Gemstone Bay). Unfortunately we didn't get much snorkelling done as the beach is rock, very difficult to traverse and then very hard to get into the water without getting caught on more rocks. However, Jamie was delighted with his wet suit and wore it when we went swimming in Hahei beach. The water is not as cold as at home but definitely not as warm as in Queensland.

On the way home that evening we took the little road that leads to Cook's Beach - opur destination? Purangi Winery. This is a lovely little winery which produces amny type sof drinks. Tastings are free and they have a restaurant. Some of the really good drinks we sampled were Feijoa liquer (makes a lovely long drink), Lemon Geneva Gin, Kiwi Fruit Wine, They make one fantastic Cabernet Suavignon (which even Jamie liked), a good reisling, they have honey liquers and a good port. And yes, we couldn't leave without bringing some samples home with us. There is loads more to do in the Coromandel Peninsula and we woudl love to have had about 3/4 more days. Ah well, it's an excuse to be coming back sometime.

We headed off to Hamilton for a night to meet up with Jamie's cousin, Lyn. Then on to Auckland.

There isn't much to say here. Ohakune is a quiet little town and the YHA is a nice hostel with a home entertainment centre. Tired from all the travelling we decided spend the two days just chilling out and relaxing. Translation: we did nothing.
Well on the second night we watched LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring, kind of as revision before Return of the King. [As an aside, there was some LOTR filming around Ohakune and there is actually stuff to do there - we just didn't do it.]

After our rest in Ohakune, we headed, all refreshed, to Rotorua. A great place for thermal springs and experiencing Maori culture. First of all if you thing the smell from a sulphur spring is good for you, think again. It's bad for you and we were bloody surrounded. Rotorua smells yucky!!!!
It also rained for our two days here. Solid rain... so we sat there reading books and playing Tantrix. [You can play the game on the website, but Hilary and Jamie accet no responsibility if you get addicted and subsequently fired from work or something!]

Anyway, due to the rain we got nothing done and we were glad to leave Rotorua and it's rotten egg smell behind.