Today, armed with a picnic lunch, we all piled into “Little Miss Sunshine” and headed to a quiet secluded beach for the day – Matapaua Beach. It is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen – in fact if one of the little holiday homes on the shore was for sale I would have signed up and bought it on the spot – and I’m sure there would have been no argument from John!
We sat on the beach, ate our picnic lunch, threw sticks for Power to chase, watched a yacht sail in and anchor in the bay, walked along the beach, watched as the boys snorkel in the water and then…….
4 dolphins decided to swim on in and play with us! It was unbelievable. They jumped in and out of the water and then caught waves right into the shallow water. Paul & Rachael were in the water with them and we were on shore with our cameras taking photos and videos – it was just awesome (didn’t I just say that about Hot Water Beach – this country is just the best!)
............................................................................................................. After this amazing day playing with the dolphins we headed back to the house, cleaned up and then went to Uncle Harry’s restaurant for tea. It was a great night (thanks to Jonno who knows the owners personally) topping off a fabulous day.
Friday
Today we said farewell to Whitianga and headed for Rotorua via Mt Maunganui. Mt Maunganui is another great beach although the high-rises seem to be multiplying and it reminded me a little of a miniature Gold Coast.
Today we said farewell to Whitianga and headed for Rotorua via Mt Maunganui. Mt Maunganui is another great beach although the high-rises seem to be multiplying and it reminded me a little of a miniature Gold Coast.
The last few days were filled with so many wonderful experiences and today the adventures just kept coming – white water rafting! As it turned out the only rafting experience available was level 5 – which included a drop over a 7 metre waterfall!! That certainly ruled out our pregnant Rachael and both Blake and I volunteered to keep her company! So John, Jonno & Paul decked themselves out in wetsuits and then hit the rapids along with 2 staff members from the “Water Rats”. Jonno was very confident, however I can’t say the same for John & Paul who were a little reticent and looking a little green but were putting on very brave fronts. Their nervousness was ill-founded however as they absolutely loved it and could have easily turned around and done it all again!
Then it was onto Rotorua – with one small hiccup – “Little Miss Sunshine” ran out of petrol! The wonderful people from “River Rats” came to our rescue and drove out to meet us and saved the day.
We arrived in Roturua (such a smelly place – so much sulphur in the air) and found a little motel that gladly accepted 6 people and a dog for the night, then the really brave ones (John & Jonno) experienced the onsite mineral pool (it was not very inviting – in fact it looked dangerous!) while the others hit the swimming pool. It had been another big day which saw us all asleep quite early that night.
Saturday
We packed the car for our very last day in “Little Miss Sunshine” – had a quick
stop in town where we soaked our feet in a hot spring pool and then experienced seeing our very first live “Kiwi” at Rainbow Springs. They are much larger than I had imagined and it was really interesting to learn more about the NZ national bird. We walked around Rainbow Springs Nature Park seeing lots of wildlife – it was a wonderful way to end our Coromandel getaway – and it was particularly fun singing and playing “I spy” games on the drive back to Beachlands.
Sunday
The last day of our NZ holiday! We tried to do as much as we could before going to the airport in the afternoon – I think it was our way of avoiding the thought of leaving. We drove into Cleveland (a small country town) and visited their markets. John & I stocked up on beautiful fresh food to eat on the flight home while Blake & Rachael enjoyed a honey-filled French crepe! We checked out Duder National Park where Blake had done the majority of her training during the year (a very scenic place which must have made training a lot easier, well very easy on the eye anyway!) She pointed out quite a few Pukeko’s - native birds of NZ and one of her favourites. We then stopped at a nearby oval to see her soccer team play - Blake is on the injured list at the moment with her knee but will back playing with them soon.
The last day of our NZ holiday! We tried to do as much as we could before going to the airport in the afternoon – I think it was our way of avoiding the thought of leaving. We drove into Cleveland (a small country town) and visited their markets. John & I stocked up on beautiful fresh food to eat on the flight home while Blake & Rachael enjoyed a honey-filled French crepe! We checked out Duder National Park where Blake had done the majority of her training during the year (a very scenic place which must have made training a lot easier, well very easy on the eye anyway!) She pointed out quite a few Pukeko’s - native birds of NZ and one of her favourites. We then stopped at a nearby oval to see her soccer team play - Blake is on the injured list at the moment with her knee but will back playing with them soon.
Then once again we found ourselves at the airport saying goodbye. It certainly doesn’t get any easier – I think the only way to remedy the situation is for us to move to NZ!! In the meantime we look forward to our next get together – possibly in Hawaii for Christmas and to celebrate Blake’s 30th birthday – hooley dooley does life get any better!
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