Coromandel Peninsula

I started off by getting the bus from Auckland to Thames, which is a bit of a scratty town and not that nice. It was chucking it down with rain the first day, and I couldn't see anything. I was having a crap afternoon til I randomly bumped into Paul and Amanda, the couple I met in LA. It turned out they were staying at my hostel. The hostel was actually a house, which was great as all afternoon we played cards and that evening we threw an impromtu dinner party and it felt really cosy, like being round at a mates house. Round the dinner table was 5 people and 4 different nationalities, pretty cool hey.

The next day it brightened up, so Paul, Amanda a Dutch guy, Floris and I decided to walk up to the Pinnancles. It took us a bit longer than I had expected, about 8 hours in total, 7 of those hours we spent walking. I really missed my walking boots as my feet got repeatedly soaked after tramping across the same stream several times at different points. Also I had to miss out going right to the summit as my trainers weren't up to it. All in all it was a brilliant day out though. That evening Paul & Amanda gave me a lift up to Coromandal, having even more fish and chips on the way.

I stayed in a lovely backpackers in Coromandel, had a really nice garden and best of all it was pretty quiet and I got the whole dorm to myself for 2 nights. Its the first time I've slept with no one else in the room since I came travelling, it was heaven. They also gave me free use of a bike so I did a lot of cycling, including cycling up to a water park where they had cool water machine-type things to play with. After the water park I attempted to walk up to Castle Rock - it said it was an easy walk that anyone over the age of 4 should be able to do. I'd describe it as more of a scramble, some bits I had to use my rock climbing skills. It was really hard, probably due to my crappy trainers which kept slipping the whole time. On the way down I slipped over and now have a big bruise on my bum! I really must get some walking boots.

After Coromandel I got the bus over to Whitianga. Its a nice town, with lovely beaches. The hostel I stayed at (called the Cat's Pyjamas) had owners who were completely mad! The lady was lovely, really friendly and helpful, her husband was probably the rudest person I've met but he was so rude it was funny. The second night we were there they gave us a free barbeque, great for socialising and we had a good night, despite the horrible wine we bought for $10. Whilst I was at Whitianga I went on a day trip to Hot Water Beach - where you dig a hole in the sand and sit in hot water heated from the earth. It was strange, but nice to lie in a hand-made spa. We also visited Cathedral Cove - limestone formations right on the beach, very incredible and a lovely spot.

Coromandal was the place to bump into people because in Whitianga I met Rachel, Courtney and Becks from Fiji. Its pretty weird bumping into people the whole time. That was great, as they gave me a lift all the way to Hamilton, saving me getting the bus.