Goodbye Middleearth

Leaving nice but putrid Rotoura behind, we kept on following New Zealands volcanic faultline, which both underlies and threatens its existence at any given moment. This led us through the fertile region where most of the Kiwis in NZL (and probably in the world) are grown. Nevertheless, we resisted the temptation to visit "KIWI 360", where the probably biggest reproduction of a Kiwi fruit is on exhibit, and only stopped after reaching the Bay of Plenty in order to relax on the beaches flanking the volcanic Mt. Maunganui for a few hours.



Hoping for a last night of going out in nearby Tauranga, we once again underestimated the backwood-factor of New Zealand: One short cruise through the center of the more than 100.000 inhabitant-town quickly revealed that there will be no Party on the menu tonight. Lowering our expectations, we would have been happy with a mere internet cafe, but after one hour of searching and asking around we headed off frustratedly into the woods of Coromandel peninsula, where we planned to spend our last day in NZL.

Coromandel isn't one of the most spectacular regions in NZL - the Kauri trees are not as huge as on Northland, the beaches are not as nice as in Abel Tasman NP and the cities' struggle to come up with something of "historic importance" is almost ridiculous. But still, there are some goodies worth visiting:

Hot Water Beach, for example, is a beach with some (very confined) stretches of hot springs emerging from beneath the sand. The point is to dig a pool in the sand (at low tide) of at least 2 meters of diameter, against the constant destructive force of the waves, until, after having managed to do so, you find yourself exhaustedly sweating and your pool being occupied by some lazy sponger while you are taking a refreshing bath in the cold sea...


Men ARE multitaskers: hole-digging and dishwashing in one.

After a long day´s work

Another top nature experience on Coromandel was driving down the West Coast of the Coromandel Peninsula at sunset (where BTW you get to cross a bridge over the "Die Hard Stream") on a narrow coastal road that winds alongside the very still waters of the Bay of Auckland.



From Kiwi to Kauri at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephan_mittas/sets/72157615380125610/