Baths and Beaches

We had originally planned to spend our last days passing through Rotorua and the rest in Auckland, but as Stace had worked out the days wrong, we found we had an extra day, so decided to head up to the Corimandel Penisula, which has some great beaches! On the Tuesday we planned to leave Waitomo early to get to Rotorua in time to see the Lady Knox geyser erupt (it erupts every day at 10.30am), but typically we got up late (well, Stace did - things never change) and plus the fact there was loads of roadworks we arrived there with about a minute to spare.


Lady Knox Geyser (and chucky in the pink...)

However we did manage to see it - just (no thanks to the little girl blocking our view - she looked the spit of chucky the killer doll)! We then had a walk around the Wai-O-Tapu thermal park which stank of rotten eggs (the sulphur apparently - lots of amusing childish comments between the two of us ensued)!

The Artist's Palette, the Devil's Bath and Stace smoking...

The lonely planet guide had recommended a place called Fat Dogs cafe, so we thought we'd check it out. Oh my god it was great - one of the walls was just a huge blackboard menu - we were in heaven! If you ever go to Rotorua definately go there (the food is great and the portions are massive) and its got lots of quirky little features. We then headed straight up to the Corimandel Penisula which was a good few hours drive.

We arrived in a place called Whagamata, planning to stay the night and carry on up to Hahei beach in the morning, however, the campsite was being renovated so as we had no where else to stay we had to drive on (in the pouring rain might I add - that bloody cloud is following us I swear)! However, we finally arrived in Hahei and were pleased we did - it was sunny, hooray! Stayed in a campsite right on Hahei beach, with a view looking right over the sea - fantastic! Spent the next few days walking and sunbathing (well, you had to walk to a great beach called Cathedral Cove so we thought we'd reward ourselves with a spot of sunbathing - we need to take all the chances we can). Visited Hot Water beach, where you can dig holes in the sand and it fills up with hot water - cool (although we were expecting a bath not a puddle)! After a relaxing few days it was time to make our way to the bustling city of Auckland...

Cathedral Cove


Hahei beach and the view from the van (Nath spoiled it somewhat though...)