Coromandel Peninsula

We spent most of the day travelling south, back through Auckland then up to the Coromandel Peninsula. Once again, we were faced with very winding roads with mountains on our right (driver's side) and huge drops to the ocean (my side) on the left. The roads are paved however at times when we reach a hairpin turn, it seems that there is only room for 1 1/2 vehicles to meet....and when the opposing vehicle is a HUGE logging truck, well, needless to say, we know our hearts are strong. Poor Bob didn't get to see much of the view and I found that concentrating on either the map or the view was best for my nerves, leaving the road to Bob.
Our friend Yves who just returned from 4 years in Jamaica and who we refer to as Canada's Mario Andretti, would love these roads!

Just a few km short of the city of Coromandel, I decided to take a "shortcut" through the mountains to Whitianga (pronounced "fitayanga") on what I thought was a sealed road. It was paved for about 2 km (we had to go 22 km) then we were on gravel roads about one vehicle wide. We were under rock outcroppings, saw where there had been rock slides and generally thought that this might not have been the brightest idea I'd had since being here.....but good old Bob plodded on through treacherous conditions (by the way, as part of our camper contract, we are not allowed on these roads...shhhhhhh). After what seemed like several lifetimes, we reached the highway and in a few short minutes we arrived in one of the prettiest villages we've seen. It was very new looking and had a gorgeous harbour with many yachts. We stayed at a nice quiet campground and walked around town. While walking down by the harbour, we watched a bus driver (presumably on his way home from work), park his coach, take off his trousers and in his underwear, walk into the water with a bucket in his hand. He was digging for clams! This must have been his idea of picking up take-out on his way home. Too cool!

The next day was the first full day of rain since we got here. If you got the news, you would have heard that the Skytower in Auckland was closed due to 150 km winds and there was quite a lot of damage done in the Auckland area. We simply had driving rain so we booked a bone carving class. The artist is a great guy who explained how he buys the bones from the butcher (they no longer use whale or other endangered species bones for this craft), removes the marrow, and using absolutely no chemicals, naturally whitens the bone. He then cuts them into long thick strips. We had a blast making each other a Christmas present using dentist tools and sandpaper to finish our work. They turned out really well and it was a super way to spend a rainy day.

I forgot to mention earlier that we drove 960 km before having to fill the tank! Isn't that wonderful? Of course it's diesel and we both said almost simultaneously "better get a new boat!". Diesel prices range from 98 cents to $1.06 per litre. We're happy with the mileage.

Following our class, we headed back down the peninsula to Mount Maunganui where we camped in the shadow of the mountain and right on the beach; a huge surfers paradise. We watched the surfers being bowled over by the surf. Some were excellent surfers!

The next morning (Nov 9), we hiked (or "tramped" as they say here) to the top of the Mountain and were greeted by magnificent views. Following our "tramp", we jumped in the camper and off we went....destination Rotorua, 82 km away for a very short driving day.

Nov 10:
Rotorua is a stinky town due to the sulphur from the geysers and mud pools that lie underneath the town. Our campsite is right downtown and everywhere we walked, we saw wisps of steam coming from mud pools and ponds.

We took the gondola up over the city and had lunch then visited Rainbow Springs for a nature walk through a forest with beautiful native birds (including the beautiful Kiwi), fish and reptiles. There are no poisonous creatures here however there are some pretty prehistoric looking critters. We saw the most comical parrot that is considered the smartest bird in the world. It runs/hops on the ground almost like a galloping horse. It does fly however seemed quite happy loping along. It's feathers are blue/green all over except under it's wings which are brilliant orange. We had a very close encounter with an emu who stuck her beautiful head right in my face; huge eyes with long eyelashes. She seemed to be examining my face then just when I thought she was going to communicate something, she pooped all over the ground. Charming!
Her babies ran around our feet....so cute.

At 4:30, we were picked up at our camp and taken to the Maori Cultural Centre where we had a tour of the grounds which included the mud pools, the geyser (which blew just as we were about to walk away), the carving school where young Maori are taught the craft from their elders and the museum with examples of ancient carvings and original carving tools.

At 6 pm our group of 40 people were taken to the Meeting House for our official greeting from a Maori Chief. We had to elect a chief of our own and he was to represent us for the rest of the evening. It was a very solemn affair and we were instructed by our guide to show respect to the warriors and not laugh or show any form of disrespect. As we stood outside the gate to the Meeting House and as our chief (Mark) stood inside the gate, two warriors came out of the house and blew into conch shells, signalling the arrival of the chief. A huge man stepped out of the house and signalled one of his strongest and fastest warriors to approach our chief. The young man flew down the path, rolled his eyes up in his head, stuck out his tongue (down to his chin) and emitted the wildest most threatening sounds I've heard. He then took a fern from his pouch and laid it on the ground. Our chief picked up the fern and put it behind his back, signalling that we came in peace. We were all then invited into the Meeting House (shoes off) where we were formally welcomed with a speech in Maori. Our chief responded by saying that he represented all tribes of the world and that we thanked them for their hospitality. We then were treated to an amazing concert and performances of dancers, singers and story-tellers. It was a very emotional experience.

Following the concert, we were taken to a replica ancient Maori village and each of the performers talked about a different perspective of the way they lived prior to the arrival of the Europeans. They said that they were never placed on reservations like our aboriginals however almost all their land was taken away from them and they were left with a tiny plot of land. This is currently being rectified by the government.

We then were taken to dinner consisting of seafood, corn, chicken, goat, lamb and salad. We sat with about 8 others, including two Dutch couples, English and Australians. The Australians told us that they are from Queensland and that the east side of Australia is being destroyed by the drought. It is the worst in 1000 years. It may even be possible that tourists will be restricted from travelling there although we haven't heard that for certain.

It was a beautiful day and we learned so much.

I must share with you one of the funniest experiences we've had so far. We aren't into toilet humour but this is worth telling you about.

There are public toilets everywhere in N.Z.......so civilized. They are immaculate and convenient.

We stopped at a little park the other day and saw what looked like small trailers. There were lights on the doors; red and green. Green meant the toilet was vacant; red that it was occupied. I entered on green and a male voice in surround sound instructed me to close the door and press the green button to lock the door. I was then told that I would have exactly 10 minutes. I was laughing so hard it was a wonder Bob couldn't hear me in the next cubicle! Then the music started! It was hilarious. Once finished, you press the green button and the door unlocks.
As we took off and were laughing about it, Bob commented that all he could think about was a malfunction in the electronics and pondered how long he could be locked in there before someone came to his rescue. Talking toilets! What a concept!

Nov 11: It's Remembrance Day! We are spending another day in Rotorua, exploring the town and remembering all those who have served in all wars.....a day ahead of the rest of you. We will remember our own tomorrow as no doubt you all will.

We shall never forget!

I'm also going to attempt to load photo's from this terminal so check the past postings to see if it worked.

Love and peace.
Sharon