This weekend we decided to go on a road trip. The first stage was figuring out the different NZ road rules. Fortunately, it is pretty similar, though there is one big difference that catches a lot of UK drivers out. NZ treats every uncontrolled junction like a roundabout; i.e. you have to give way to the right. So, if you're driving down the road and want to turn left into a side street, but someone on the other side of the road wants to turn right into the same side street, you have to give way to them.
Once we had cleared that up, and after mistakenly indicating with our windscreen wipers a few times, we set off in our enormous 8 seater car to the Coromandel Peninsula.
It was a two and a half drive to where we were staying, and the first half went really well. We stopped off in a town called Thames, as there was a shop selling award winning pies. Thames is an old gold-mining town that nowadays seems to trade predominantly in alcohol and cars. It was a pretty dull place, though it did have New Zealand Skinniest Furniture Store, and a museum devoted entirely to drinks cans.
After lunch, we drove through the Coromandel mountains. The road clung precariously to the sides of the mountains, occasionally going up further or descending down into the valleys, making our ears pop. The scenery was amazing...or so I'm told. It was about this time I discovered I have not got over my childhood travel sickness.
Winding mountain roads at 100kph = very nauseous DrA.
Finally though, we arrived at the turning for our accommodation, and promptly drove right past it by mistake. Instead we went to Cathedral Cove.
The Maori's call Cathedral Cove 'Te Whanganui-A-Hei' (The Great Bay of Hei), after a priest from the Te Arawa tribe who claimed ownership of this area by proclaiming it 'Te Kuraetanga-o-taku-lhu', which translates as 'the outward curve of my nose'. It was used in the latest Narnia film, which is exciting.
It is a very beautiful place, with a massive stone arch formed when two caves on either side of a cliff joined together. There is also a giant rock in the middle of the bay that has been worn away over the years, and a natural waterfall. Here are some pictures, that will look much better once I've touched them up on my home computer:
I didn't manage to convince the others to go swimming (they said they 'hadn't brought their costumes'. Pathetic excuse) so I had to go by myself. It was five minutes of half fun, half fear. They were no where near the biggest waves I've ever swam in, but the unpredictable directions and close proximity to rocks/cliffs made it pretty interesting. Got rid of the travel sickness though.
After Cathedral Cove, we headed back to the accommodation (me sat on a plastic bag in the car, as I had gone swimming in my shorts), then went in search of some dinner. This was the only place nearby:
It was pretty much how you imagined. Local pub for local people. They even had a separate menu board titled 'Deep Fried'. Good burgers though.
After dinner, we headed to the Hot Water Beach. This is a stretch of beach with two geothermal fissures, that cause hot springs to filter up through the sand. You can only go on during the two hours either side of low tide, which on Friday was at 10.04pm, so we arrived there at about half eight.
Being on the beach in pitch black is a novel experience. But the hot springs were even more unusual - in some places the sand was too hot to stand on! After a lot of trial and error we managed to find a spot that didn't produce water too hot to touch, and was far enough inland to avoid most of the waves. We dug a hole and reinforced the sides with a sand wall to keep out the stray waves (fortunately our hostel came with free spade!), and settled down to burn our bums. And when I say burn, I mean it; we had to keep moving because if we sank a bit too far into the sand it got excruciatingly hot. Even the waves of the Pacific were warmer than normal sea.
Due to the complete lack of light, this was the best my camera managed:
Eventually we got tired of digging holes, and went back to our hostel. Six people sleeping in a room smaller than most kitchens. Interesting.
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