Rain, Rain, go away! Our last 5 days in New Zealand

Coromandel, Hot Water Beach, Waihi, Auckland NZ
February 12-17

Hanging out at Hot Water Beach on a sunny morning

It was our last five days in New Zealand and we were determined to make the most of it. We had big plans! We were going to drive from Papamoa Beach up to the Coromandel Peninsula, an area known for its beautiful secluded beaches and great camping. We planned to camp for three nights and then head back to Auckland for our final two evenings. They were calling for some rain, but we had noticed that the weather forecasts in New Zealand were pretty sketchy. Even the meteorologists themselves seemed hesitant to give a forecast, as though they knew they were probably wrong. So we drove. And drove. And drove. The actual drive time was only about three hours from Papamoa to Coromandel town, but it seemed much longer. The roads were some of the steepest, curviest roads we had encountered since our first days in New Zealand. By the time we got to Coromandel, I felt like I had just gotten off an amusement park ride. And unfortunately, our long drive to Coromandel town was accompanied by rain the whole way. The camping we hoped to do was farther up the peninsula but the weather was not looking good so we decided to bunk down for the night.

We found a cute little Hostel just outside the town called the Tui Lodge. It was a true backpackers place, with loads of travelers wandering around, some looking like they had been there for quite a while. They had one double room left and the price was right so we unpacked our bags, put in some laundry and put on the news in our room. The weather forecast was miserable. One meteorologist even commented that it was a good week for working since camping was out of the question. This was a pretty big problem for us since there is not much else to do on the Coromandel Peninsula if you aren't camping. We were pretty dejected and needed a pick me up, so we cleaned ourselves up, put on some freshly laundered clothes and headed into town where we had a nice dinner at a place called the Pepper Tree restaurant. Over dinner we had discussed our dilemma and decided that unfortunately, staying up on the Peninsula was not an option. Our choices at that point were to head to Auckland in the morning, or to backtrack back the way we came and hope to salvage a few days elsewhere. We decided to backtrack.

The next morning when we woke up the rain outside was absolutely torrential. It may not have improved our situation, but at least we felt better about our choice. We packed up our stuff early and headed back up the winding roads, over the mountains once again. We had decided to head to the town of Haihei where we could go to Hot Water Beach, a famously touristy site that we had passed on our way out. Hot Water Beach is famous for the hot springs that bubble just under the surface of the sand. For two hours before and after low tide, you can dig yourself a hole in one particular section of beach and take a hot bath right beside the ocean. We figured, what the heck? You can do that in the rain right? Then Shaun had a stroke of genius. There was also great kayaking around that area. You pretty much get wet whenever you kayak, so what's the difference? We had left so early that morning that when we arrived in Haihei it was just after noon. We found Cathedral Cove Kayaks and booked the afternoon kayak trip that left at 2pm. Things were looking up.

Things got worlds better that afternoon. The rain and that had been pouring down all morning began to clear, and by the time we started kayaking it was absolutely beautiful. The big highlight was Cathedral Cove, a natural archway that was formed in the rocks by years of waves crashing against them. We kayaked all along the coast, exploring little coves and then we stopped at Cathedral Cove, where our guides made "afternoon tea", otherwise known as snack time. We had some coffee and cookies and explored the cove for a while before heading back into the kayaks. At that point, our guide decided we were all proficient enough to do some more advanced kayaking so he took us out farther into open ocean and around a few islands before heading us all back into the bay. It was an incredible afternoon and our bad moods were washed away on the crashing surf.

Kayaking around the cove area, with Ellen and Linda, who we would hang out with that night

Beautiful Cathedral Cove

This rock probably only has about ten or twenty more years before it tumbles into the sea

Shaun and I on the beach

To top off our amazing kayak trip, we spent early evening hours at Hot Water Beach. We walked down to the beach and followed the huge crowd of people over to the springs. It was just after low tide so we were on the back swing of when you could dig your own pool. We borrowed a shovel and Shaun found an abandoned half-dug hole and started digging. Minutes later we were sitting in our own little hot water pool. All around us people were doing the same, but we noticed that some larger pools had been abandoned. Shaun stepped in one and immediately found out why. It was literally boiling hot. Later a guy actually showed how you could pop open mussels and put them in the boiling water to cook them! (Don't worry, we didn't eat them! We have our limits!) It was a wild experience and even though it was crazy touristy, we would not have missed it.

Shaun digging our private spa on Hot Water Beach. The whole thing was surreal!

It must have been the high from the kayak trip and the hot springs that made our next choice so inexplicable. We booked a trailer for the night. Yup, a trailer. And not a nice one either, a beat up old trailer that had clearly been on the park grounds for years. Lets put it this way, if a tornado had hit, I'm sure this particular trailer would have been sucked up into the Vortex just because it was so trailor-ish. But I digress; here's how it all went down. We wanted to stay somewhere close to Hot Water Beach and a Top 10 Holiday Park was the best option with walking distance of the beach. With the bad weather we figured they would have plenty of options, but when we arrived they were practically sold out. Our choices were basically a super deluxe room for $145 a night or an "on-site caravan" as they called it, for $65. We took a walk over and looked at the caravan and honestly, we both just thought it was so hilarious that we had to stay there.

The rest of the park was actually really nice, thank god. The kitchen was big and clean and the communal dining area had huge wood tables made from whole trees that had been sliced into planks. We spent most of the evening there, chatting with Ellen and Linda (two kayakers from our trip) and a group of young college kids from England who were just starting their New Zealand odyssey. It's always fun to spend an evening exchanging tips and talking about our common adventures with fellow travelers. But finally everyone headed to bed and it was time to go back to the trailer. (Queue scary music here).

As is always the case, something that seemed hilarious in the bright light of day had lost its magic in the deep dark of the night. The trailer smelled musty and made weird creaking noises and looked far less clean than it had upon our initial viewing. After I found the first big spider I knew that this called for desperate measures. And I knew just what we needed. It was time to call in the big guns. It was time for Ricky Bobby and Glenlivet!

For those of you who haven't seen it, "Talladega Nights, the Legend of Ricky Bobby" is a completely inane Will Farrell comedy that revolves around Nascar. The humor is juvenile and stupid and probably offensive to most people, but we both think it is hilarious. I had packed it away in my backpack just in case a night came when we really needed a good laugh. That night had arrived. The Glenlivet whisky, on the other hand, was a purchase we had made back in Lake Taupo when I got my cold. Yes, I'm certain the American Medical Association would say there is no truth to the old wives tale that Whiskey helps with a cold, but that cold sure was short lived! And thankfully we had plenty left! So we settled down in the trailer with the bugs and our whisky and watched Will Ferrells fabulous ode to Nascar. I may have slept with the spiders that night, but I sure did sleep well! The next morning we speed packed and got the hell out of the trailer as fast as we could.

The craziest lodging we had in Australia. It was trash-tastic!

Will Ferrell and Glenlivet to the rescue!

We spent most of that morning down at the beach, with Shaun paddle-boarding and me relaxing and enjoying the sun. Then we drove further down the coast to Waihi Beach, where we had decided to spend the night. We booked a nice little cabin (very clean and normal) at a nice beachfront holiday park and spent some time wandering down at the water before coming back up the park to make dinner. Dinner that night was called Fire Sale Chili. We were leaving for Auckland in the morning and so everything we had left for food needed to be consumed or thrown out. Chili is the perfect conduit for a meal like that. We picked up some ground beef in town and some chili seasoning and then chopped up everything we had left in our cooler that we thought would go with chili. In the end our chili had not just ground beef, but onions, zucchini, corn, red peppers, green peppers, tomatoes and even mushrooms. It sounds like it may be a little much, but trust me, it was delicious!

Shaun on a paddle board just off Hot Water Beach

Fire Sale Chili- Everything must go!

The next day we were off to Auckland, but on the way we stopped for a little hike at Karanagahake Gorge. This gorge was once the site of a major mining operation, but as they seem to do in New Zealand,it has been converted in a very cool hiking park where you can actually go into some of the old mine tunnels and see for yourself what it was like. The weather was extremely rainy, but even that didn't make me want to travel very far down these old mine shafts. I never really seemed to lose sight of the fact that this is an earthquake prone country, especially when we got into weird confined or underground spaces like this. Shaun was braver than I and took a few walks into the tunnels with a head lamp, while I waited at the edges where I could run to safety in case of the unlikely earthquake.

Karangahake Gorge

Shaun crossing the swing bridge at the Gorge


And finally that afternoon, we arrived in Auckland. We had lots to take care of before leaving for Australia so our last few days were a bit hectic. We booked a hostel just outside the city in a suburb called Glen Eden. The hostel was an old victorian building that had been broken up into rooms, but they also had a group of pre-fab cabins out back. The cabins were neat and clean and the hostel had free parking and a big kitchen so it was perfect for us. The free parking was important since parking in Auckland is very expensive. There was a bus stop right around the corner that took us into the city in about 15 minutes, which meant there was no need to bring the car into the city. Our first afternoon we jumped on the bus and headed into Auckland for an appointment at a travel clinic. We had gotten shots for our upcoming Southeast Asia travels while we were home at Christmas but we needed one more shot to complete our set. We popped into the Travel Doctor in Auckland, showed them our vaccination records, got our shots and we were back on the street about 45 minutes later.

The rest of our time was a nice mix of travel planning and fun. Our first night in Auckland we went to a restaurant called the Grove that came highly recommended by both Lonely Planet and our friend Paige. The food was excellent and it was a lovely night out. After weeks of being outdoors all day in a baseball hat and shorts, wearing nothing but sunscreen on my face, it felt nice to get dressed up. Of course, I also found it quite funny that we got dressed in our nicest outfits to go to dinner at a fancy restaurant, but we were taking the bus from a hostel to get there. We are quite the classy pair.

Auckland at night

Our last evening in New Zealand we drove back out to Titirangi, home of the Flashmanns. It was time to return all the equipment they had loaned us when we first arrived in New Zealand. It was great to see Todd and Sarah again and wonderful to get a chance to sit down and talk about all of our adventures. The girls were already asleep so I didn't get to tell them that I still had the little mermaid statues they had given us when we saw them last. I told Sarah to let them know that they were about to come with us on an adventure to Australia!

Just a couple of little mermaids on a plane to Australia!

So we spent our last evening the same way we spent our first, in the company of these lovely folks from New Zealand. In many ways the evening was typical of the whole trip. We drank beautiful New Zealand white wine with new friends as the sun set out over the bay in a place that is just magical. I must say, my heart ached a little bit the next morning as we headed to the airport. I know we still have lots of adventures ahead in Australia and Southeast Asia, but there is just something about New Zealand that made me fall in love with this beautiful country. Maybe it's the people and the culture, maybe its the amazing environment and the natural wonders or maybe it's a combination of all these things. In any case, I am so happy that we chose to spend so much time in this wonderful place and my only wish now is that we someday get the chance to come back.