Heading South
Trip Start
Jan 19, 2011
1
10
20
Trip End
Ongoing
Where I stayed
Mercury Bay Holiday Park
Whitianga, North Island, New Zealand
Saturday, February 19, 2011
We got up the next day and went to the Kauri Forest and the Kauri Museum. Spectacular trees... second largest in girth in the world. (second to the Sequoias in California) It's so nice doing so much hiking. We're definitely feeling a little whipped, but it's a good feeling.
That night, we drove all the way down to Auckland, stopping at a kick ass artistic coffe shop, and then slept at the City Garden Lodge where we had stayed earlier. This time, the tent we had stayed in was taken, so we crashed in their caravan, which was very nice. Cozy and private.... perfect. We stopped in Auckland because Colin really wanted to go to the Kelly Tarleton Antartic Museum. It ended up being really amazing. I think we stayed there for close to 4 or 5 hours. We're pretty nerdy like that though,... we like museums. :)
Now we are back on the east coast exploring the Coromandel Peninsula. This area is really beautiful... more mountainous, with rocky rivers running through it. It feels a lot like The Rockies in Colorado. The tramping has been even harder than before. We camped last night next to the river, made a great meal and sat by the fire until late. This was the first campground that let us make a fire and we took advantage. It was a beautiful night sitting under the full moon hanging out by the fire and laughing. Unfortunately, it rained last night and we had a rainfly malfunction and woke up wet. That was lame. I won't name any names... but it wasn't MY fault. :) We woke up and went for a 3 hour hike that was straight up. It ended at a patch of large Kauri trees, but it wasn't my favorite hike. It was so steep that they had built steps the whole way. Damn... literally 2 hours of going up steps. We started out so ambitious...running up the first 4 or 5 long stretches of steps and ended red faces and drenched. Yikes! My ass better look good after that. :) Our bed will feel good tonight. :) And I'm looking forward to Hot Water Beach tomorrow, where you can dig your own hot thermal pool on the beach. That's what I'm talking about!
