Second Day

**long entry**

Well, today was quite a day… exhausting again, but most of it wonderful. I woke up early enough to catch the sun rise over the beach across the street at the hostel. After a quick shower, I gathered up my gear and checked out. Before getting into the car, I went to the beach to walk around in the surf and enjoy the morning sun, greeting all the morning walkers that strided by. After my feet were used to the cold water, I walked back to my car, wiping the sand off of my feet on the rough grass along the way. For breakfast, I went to Café Nina, which was recommended in the Lonely Planet guide. Boy, am I glad I did. Not only was the man that took my order incredibly friendly and chatty, the food was plain scrumptious. I had a usual breakfast of a fried egg, hot potatos, 2 thick slabs of buttered toast and 2 wide strips of bacon that more resembled Canadian bacon than American. Plus, I got another glass of that juice I enjoyed from yesterday. I know now what it’s called.. Feijoa. And I like it… a lot.

Whitianga in the morning was much more welcoming to me than in the evening. I’ll have to admit that in the evening I got a bit lonely when there wasn’t any more beautiful scenery to take in and there was no familiar company to enjoy. A small town in the dark of night in New Zealand doesn’t seem much different from some of the small towns my Mom and I experienced in the West along our cross country drive. But, the loneliness was all gone in heartbeat when I stepped outside in the morning. Anyway…

From Whitianga, I drove down to Hot Water Beach… another fantastic drive, with fantastic scenery. I made a quick stop along the road at Whiti Farm where a sheep and a goat were staked out front to attract visitors, I’m sure. I had a hard time resisting to pay whatever it is they were asking to see the rest of the farm animals.. of which there were many. I could see llamas, ducks and geese, as well as hear a donkey and some more sheep. However, I contented myself with petting the soft fur of the goat, who wasn’t much interested in me after he found out I had nothing for him. The sheep, however, was a different story. She was very interested in being petted and would lean into my hand when I scratched her on the head and cheek.

Probably due to the stop at the farm (though it really wasn’t that long).. I got to Hot Water Beach about an hour after low tide. I hired a spade and thought I would have enough time to sit myself in some hot water hole I dug myself. However, at this point it was almost 1.5 hours after low tide and the tide was already coming back in and crashing on the rocks in the area. Though, I was able to move around the rocks closest to the waves and dig my toes into the sand under the water to feel the hot water of the hot spring. It was quite hot and I was content that I at least got to feel it. I dug around a little more on the beach but never did find any more hot water. I chatted with two couples, one was from Seattle and lived downtown and the other, I found out after the fact from the Seattle couple, that they were from Tacoma. Talk about a small world!

After Hot Water Beach, I made my way to Cathedral Cove, which is the whole reason I went up to Coromandel Peninsula. Other than it being a stunning limestone arch located right the beach, it’s seen in the film, Prince Caspian. It’s the scene where the Pevensies step out into Narnia from the Train Station. I had to be at least a little bit of a dork about Chronicles of Narnia.

From the car park, it’s about a 30-40 min walk down to the cove. I walked in my flip flops or jandals, as I believe my book says the can be referred to here in NZ. Wasn’t the best idea since it’s more of a hike than a walk and I have my hiking boots with me.. sheesh. But, it was worth it. The cove was everything I wanted it to be. The arch, maybe not so much since it is a tourist attraction and parts of it are roped off due to rock falling hazards. That, and there are a lot of people clusted around it. However, on either side of the arch there was a beautiful beach with some fantastic rock formations and limestone cliffs. I already forget the formations in the water they are called. Should have taken a picture of the sign instead of the beetle that was sitting on the sign. Anyway, I waded around in the water a fair bit, as it was kind of cool. Though, not so cold that you don’t get used to it after awhile. I even waded into a seaside cave, which I thought was awesome. After exploring both beaches, I sat down for awhile and enjoyed the warm sun while I sketch and listened to the gulls and the waves. I ended up staying a little bit later than I had wanted and by the time I hiked back to the car, I was pretty darn tired. Though, I was determined to try to get down to Rotorua, which I knew was another 3+ hours and it was 2:30pm at this point.

I’ll have to admit that to rest of the way down road 25 or whatever it’s called from Hahei until about Waihi, I got myself pretty crankified. The road was so incredibly serpintine that I was making myself carsick and I was the only one driving. Plus, everyone is still driving faster than I am around those curves that I get nervous when there’s someone pushing me from behind. I just kept hearing my Dad’s voice in my head telling me to go at the pace I was comfortable with and would drive off onto the side whenever it was convenient, which wasn’t very often. I was pretty tense through that drive and heaved a huge sigh of relief when I hit the 2 and it was mostly straight ahead. I could finally hit 100km for a change. Whew. My stomach felt much better immediately. I throughly enjoyed my time on Coromandel and would definitely want to go back but I don’t know if I could handle those roads again any time soon. I didn’t take nearly as many pictures because it was harder to pull off on the side, especially with the amount of cars behind me and also the whole being cranky thing doesn’t make for good picture taking.

Last thing I wanted to mention was that I drove by a seaside town called Tairua. I had almost wanted to stay there but I would have missed most of the Coromandel Penisula drive if I had. The reason I wanted to stay there was that a long time ago (switching to WoW lingo), back when BC came out, I had named a draeanai mage Tairua. Never played her much but I’ve always liked that as a name but totally forgot about how I came up with it until I recently when I was looking at the maps. I am sorry that I didn’t stop to take a picture of the “Welcome to Tairua” sign. Again.. was tired and getting cranky though Tairua also looked quite beautiful in a different way than Whitianga.

I made it into Rotorua as dusk faded into dark a little before 6pm. I was surprised with myself by being able to navigate my way with the maps, even though I did have to stop a few times to scratch my head and look over it a few times. From the 2, I took 29 and then the 36, which is called the Pyre Pa road, I think. Drove through Tauranga before that, which is a sizable town and looked pretty nice. The sunset along Pyre Pa was pretty wonderful but unfortunately I didn’t stop to capture it in a picture. It was one of those gentle sunsets where the fading sun turns the clouds into a soft spun gold which melts in to a warm, dusky rose.

So, I am staying at the Rotorua Central Backpackers Lodge. They didn’t have a single room, even though the info said it did but I got a double room for $50 NZ. Still not a bad price. I could have stayed at another one for $34 NZ but I had a feeling that this one would be more quiet. Plus, it’s in a heritage building that was built in the 30s. Reminds me a little of a Randy Mac dorm room with the high ceilings and dark wood doors and skirting boards. There’s a small heated spa pool in the back which was a wonderful soak after I got settled in. The room is nothing special but I have a king sized bed to myself. Dinner was also nothing special as was pretty hungry after not really having any lunch and just eating some crackers and an energy bar. I ate at an Indian place around the corner and it really wasn’t very good. But, the couple that served me were very nice and told me a little about India and how guests are treated there.

Now, I’m going to try to get onto the internet again. I have a feeling that I won’t be uploading my pictures again tonight as you pay per bandwidth instead of per time period. Meh. I might try to upload them in a small version instead of at full size so you can all at least see them. I did much better today, as I payed attention more. Or, it was just the perfect lighting all day since the sun was out. Speaking of sun, I got some. :)

Oh.. was able to upload this: Click here to view some video!