Taupo to Coromandel Peninsula to Tauranga

Sheesh, it has again, been a long time since my last update.

Also, the computer at the internet cafe where I am updating this time is really slow at getting the typing onto the screen, so forgive my typos... if I forget to correct them.

We ended up staying in Taupo for just under 2 weeks. We worked in the library, cataloging new additions and tidying up a bit. We had a really lovely time hanging out with our fellow WWOOFers. We had intended to go to Tauranga/Rotorura from Taupo but Andrew, the manager at the centre was going to Coromandel Town for a meeting and Coromandel Town happened to be in our list of places to visit. So we altered our plans... imagine that. It was a lovely drive and our longest car ride in the north island yet-- about 3 hours.

We stopped in Thames for coffee and for Andrew to visit a friend. Brian and I took advantage of the Saturday morning market and got some food for dinner.

When we arrived in Coromandel Town and found a backpackers, the weather was starting to turn dark and cloudy. We walked around town and took some bikes to a hilltop cafe for a little smoothie and internet time. It stormed in the evening, fortunately not until we were back inside and making our pasta dinner. There was one other group staying at the hostel, 6 road workers who were out for a fishing trip.

The next morning we moved to a slightly cheaper backpackers when we learned that we had wwoofing accommodations but not for a few days. The Anchor Lodge was full of Japanese young people who worked at the lodge for a few hours each day in exchange for their accommodations. Clever idea! There were also of course several Germans. We became friends with a group of 4 Germans-- 3 girls travelleing together and a guy they met--Frauke, Ilga, Rena and Sebastian. We met them at a pub a few times and also ran into them later in our journeys.

We spent our few free days walking through town, grocery shopping, riding bikes along the coastal road, waling on a little track and dodging the raindrops that seemed to fall everytime we went to the fish and chips shop where we bought fresh fish for our supper.

On Wednesday we went to wwoof for Cindy, an artist/solo mom who advertised for wwoofers at the cafe we visited on our first day. Our main responsibilities were entertaining (and being totally entertained by) her two-and-a-half year old son, Fin. On our first day Cindy managed to get 2 paintings done (one of which sold at the weekend art show!) while Fin showed us the ropes... he is a truck fiend whose vocabulary and phraseology constantly made us giggle. So many babies in this country to play with!

While staying with Cindy in Coromandel Town we:
walked a goat on the sidewalk
learned to crochet
drove up the peninsula and played on a rocky beach for a while
made some delicious soups
ate NZ mussels
shared jokes with Cohen, Cindy's 13 year old son
sort of watched the final game of the Rugby World Cup-- South Africa's Springboks beat England

The weekend was Labour Holiday weekend, which meant that the quiet little town was swarming with city folks on holiday. We decided to delay our travels til the holiday was over and got a ride to the highway on Tuesday. We unloaded our gear from Cindy's car and were picked up less than a minute later by 2 Californians about our age. One was a sociologist even! Or will be after his PhD program in environmental sociology at Florida. The ride to Whitianga (on the opposite side of the peninsula from Coromandel Town) took about an hour.

It was a lovely sunny day in Whitianga so we walked around town, visiting shops and collecting our dinner supplies. We met an English couple who had the same plans to visit the hot water beach and Cathedral Cove the next day as we did-- and a car! Lucky day!

We had a lovely day trip with Margaret and Lee. We hit the hot water beach first, to coincide with low tide. Brian and Lee had little spades and started digging our little hot water puddles. We were situated about 50 feet from the shore line (of course this changed with the change of the tide the longer we stayed) in a spot with several HOT areas and a cold area filtering in for temperature control. The thermal activities in the area of the country are really amazing. A completely new thing for this Iowa girl!

We sat in our hot puddles for an hour or so and then sprayed off and had some lunch. Then we drove to the Cathedral Cove area and took a nice walk. It was supposed to rain but fortunately it held off until our drive home. On the way back up the walk from the cove we decided to check out one of the side tracks leading to Stingray Bay. There was a family boogie boarding and the father was peering into the water with a snorkel mask--pointing and cheering. We saw 2 stingrays sliding through the water. It was pretty cool.

Frauke, Ilga and Rena stayed at the backpackers with us as they were meeting a bus from Whitianga in the morning. We checked out and walked with our packs the 10 blocks or so to the highway out of town. We waited by the parking lot of a lumber yard/building store and were picked up by a carpenter heading our way. We rode with him for about an hour. We waited 15 minutes before we were picked up by Dave and Judy-- a semi-retired couple on their way to Tauranga for a day trip. They told us about the mining town we passed through and even stopped and took us up to the lookout where you can see down into the the enormous pit from which they are still extracting heaps of gold. Cool.

In Tauranga, we checked into a backpackers and then hit the strand for some fish and chips. The traveling display "Earth from the Air" was showing in the green area in front of the wharf so we strolled along to see it. (I saw it in 2003 in London--cool to see it again) We got some fresh produce for dinner and then caught a movie--Eagle vs Shark-- a NZ film, sort of like Napoleon Dynamite but not as good. Still enjoyable though. On our way back to the hostel last night we heard bagpipes and decided to investigate. We sat in an amphitheater by the water and listened to the pipe and drum band for half and hour as they played pretty much the same songs over and over and over. We got cold and hungry and decided to go back for dinner but could still hear them rehearse from our water view balcony at the backpackers.

This morning we took a bus to Mount Manganui and had a walk around. Brian hiked up to the summit but I stayed at the base. We played in the sand a bit before taking the bus back to Tauranga. We made guacamole with some fresh avocados... this is avocado and kiwi fruit growing country which means nice fresh stuff in the shops! We bought some produce for making pumpkin soup tonight and then hit the internet cafe where I am patiently waiting for the letters I typed minutes ago to appear on the screen so I can fix my typos. And to take advantage of the best hourly internet rates we have seen since my last post...

I am going to work on my picture website now for a bit, so check it out, Brian's too. New photos soon, this place charges for all that stuff and doesn't have the correct program anyway.

Cheers, be well until next time (hopefully not so long from now!)