Coromandel Explore – Feb 06

Following a highly successful first explore up to the Bay of Islands, Phil had much to live up to when he took on the mantel of being ‘IC-weekend away’.  Unbeknownst to me, he had actually persuaded his boss at work, Jon, to assign him to the ‘Coromandel’ water project, and so Phil had been swotting up during the day and at nightschool on the catchment  area and his inside knowledge was impressive…..the weekends plans were ‘slick’.

This was the weekend of discovering the hidden features of our White Suzuki Cultus…..not only is it a mean machine on the open highway and a nifty city roadster, but it also happily converts to a luxurious double bedroom!  Cunning!  Ditching our trusty North Face tent - just too much hassle (!) we enjoyed two nights in the height of station wagon luxury.

Back to the ‘slick’ weekend – Phil went for quantity AND quality of activity….first stop was swimming in a waterhole at the foot of a Broken Hills waterfall (brhhhhh freezing!) before hopping into a double sea kayak and setting off at pace from Hahei for Cathedral Cove. 

Marty, our guide, and general ‘good bloke’ gave us the chat about the Marine Reserve and tales of Māori exploits as we steamed our way through the waves…..We felt we were a pretty good team…quite useful in a kayak….must have been the training that Gunther, our fellow team member gave us.  At the Cove, Marty impressed us by whipping out a cappuccino making kit….and we practise our high dives off the cliffs (sorry if you are reading this Mum!)

To cap an awesome day, IC Phil turned the Suzuki towards Hot Water Beach and with beers in hand we headed to the thermal springs. ……NOW THIS IS AN AWESOME EXPERIENCE!  Lying in a sandy pool, with sea water lapping over the pool edges, really toasty warm and enjoying a chilled beer!   Real highlight!

The next day saw us horseriding…..neither of us had very alive horses, so no pictures of this and no chat about it….we’ll be having more exciting adventures on horses another time! 

Should probably have started by telling you this, as our adventure nearly didn’t happen…but I’m rather ashamed about this….I’ve never done this before –  I ran the car out of petrol leaving Auckland!!!  Typical girl….I blamed it all squarely on my husband….lucky he has great, broad shoulders….and nice ending to the story, in that we hitched a lift with a lovely Christian from South Africa.