Coromandel and the Bay of Plenty

Hi guys,

It's been a week since I last posted. This is very strange - doesn't seem that long at all....

When I last checked in I was in Auckland trying to find something to do. Visited the Skytower and Albert Park, both of equal loveliness. I also spent a while looking at jobs and general things that I could/should be doing. The plan was to get back on the Kiwiexperience bus last Saturday but it turned out that there were no open seats until Sunday, so with the extra day I did some well needed laundry (interesting, I know) and then got a ferry over to Waiheke Island.

Waiheke Island is a very tranquil place, but I definitely got the rich hippie vibe. As in, you have to be loaded and totally barmy to want to live there. For sure. I walked around for a bit - saw the touristy shops and wondered down to the beach. After walking about a mile up the beach it started to chuck it down and I almost got swallowed by a wave which was quite amusing. Wondered back up the beach (it was warm rain) and came across a group of people shifting the sand around into a kind of walkway - after chatting with one of the guys for a bit, I found out that someone was supposed to be having a beach wedding. Somehow I feel their efforts were probably in vain. It was a lovely walkway though. That's about all I have to report from Auckland though, not much to do there really....

Jumped on the kiwiexperience bus at 8.20 on Sunday morning. Getting quite accustomed to these early starts..... The bus driver's name was Buzz and he was (I thought) very stereotypically Maori - lots of tattoo's and Maori jewellery. Lovely guy, though. Stopped off at the Kiwi Experience office to pick up our official tickets and then made our way down to Thames for lunch. Thames is apparently famous for being a very industrious mining area around 200 years ago, but it didn't really reflect this in the modern scheme of things. Lots of art deco houses. From there it was on to Hot Water Beach near Hahei, which (unsuprisingly, as far as the name goes) is famous for the fact that if you dig deep enough in certain areas of the sand, you hit pools of hot water.

After that it was on to our destination for the evening - Whitianga (which is prounounced Fitianga, feel I should inform you that all place names beginning with 'Wh' are actually prounounced with an 'F'. Weird eh?) which is more commonly known as Mercury Bay - where Kiwi's go on holiday. It was lovely, but by this point I was getting a bit sick of beaches really. Shame. Chilled out in the hostel - 'Turtle Cove Backpackers' which was run by a lovely old lady who made us all Spag Bol. First *proper* meal for ages. Ace.

Another early start (7.30) had us on our way to Rotorua - Geothermal (and Maori, apparently) capital of New Zealand. On our way down we stopped in Paeroa, famous for the invention of the drink 'Lemon and Paeroa' or L&P, when the locals took the spring water and added lemon to it. Then some clever soul carbonated it. Happy days. Large statue of an L&P bottle there to commemorate this. From there it was on to Matamata, or Hobbiton (if you will). Basically it was a town associated with the Lord of the Rings films, and you could see a sign that said Hobbiton and a very interesting statue of Golem, but to actually see Hobbiton it was an extra 100$ or so. I thought not.

Finally got in to Rotorua and was greeted by the lovely sulphur smell that Rotorua famously has to offer. Checked in to the hostel then walked around for a bit - lovely city centre and surrounds. Then the in the evening we did the famous Tamaki Cultural evening. Picked up and driven round to the Tamaki Maori tribe village, where a group 'chief' was picked to represent our bus load. From there we were led into a ring of people (200ish). The five elected chiefs stood near the middle of the circle. After a few minutes, the maori tribe appeared and did the traditional challenge and peace offering. One of the five chiefs had to accept this offering calmly and decently, which was difficult as the warriors were bulging their eyes and sticking their tongues out.... From there we were invited to have a walk around the traditional Maori village, where various roles that tribe members would have played were re-enacted by the Maoris that greeted us. We were then invited to watch our 'Hangi' retrieved from the ground. (Hangi is basically a full meal cooked underground with hot rocks. Pretty awesome. Then an hour or so of entertainment, Maori style - traditional songs, dances, stories and of course - the Haka. Very entertaining but also educational. Then, it was eating time. Massive all-you-can-eat buffets with our Hangi - chicken, lamb, stuffing, potatoes (sweet and normal) and a wholleeee variety of different veggies. And then the pudding. Pavolva, which although the Kiwis claim is theirs - I have recently learnt that it is actually an Australian desert. Controversial stuff.... All in all, probably the best 89$ I have spent culture-wise so far. Entertaining and educational and a generally interesting evening was had by all.

Tuesday was spent exploring the geothermal areas which didn't have an entry price on them. Walked around Lake Rotorua past steaming holes and bubbling mud pools. Very odd to watch mud boiling but at the same time really interesting... not everyday that you see some boiling mud. The rest of that afternoon/evening was spent looking and applying for WWOOFing work (willing workers on organic farms) and on the alcohol, naturally. Tolerance is rising sky high....

Yesterday was another washing morning, which was needed. Then went off Zorbing, which is definitely something I will be doing again. Nothing like rolling down a hill in a ball full of water. Then in the afternoon, walked round the thermal park opposite the hostel which I was staying in. Spoke on the phone with a WWOOFing host who has agreed to take me (Yay!) so, as of tomorrow I will be staying with a host family and doing a few hours of work a day in exchange for my keep. Should be an interesting experience.

Apart from that, there's nothing much more to report. Today has been a very slow day - running out of steam and need a decent night's sleep I think.... Found a nandos so that will be my dinner tonight. Happy days.

Peace -x-