Coromandel Holiday

Last week Camille and I went on a road trip of the Coromandel Peninsula, riding in our recently purchased Toyota Vitz! Our first car:




We started with some snorkeling in the Hahei Marine Reserve - and tried our best to follow the snorkel trail. You can see someone elses video here. I didn't do so well. It took me a lot of salt water in my belly to figure out that my snorkel tube was twisted too far forward. And it was cold!


I was also disapointed that I couldn't wear my glasses under the goggles - (blind boy!) Camille did much better and clearly was the real fish:



Stopped by another grove of Kauri trees:



Took a 40 minute walk to New Chums Beach, supposedly one of the top ranked beaches in the world. It was perfect except for the cold water - and we had it all to ourselves:


On a winding dirt road we chanced upon a tourist trap of the most delightful kind - the Waiau Waterworks. Hard to explain, but a bunch of goofy artists and inventers got together to build a sort of theme park out of junk and hydro-power. My favorite was the bike ride:



Camille couldn't get me wet, but I ended up doing the job myself thanks to the practice jokes lying in wait for me.



The biggest goal of our trip was to climb the Pinnacles. The highest point in the Coromandel Range. Three hours hard climb to the 'hut' (berths for up to 80 backpackers with kitchen and toilets). We arrived to the hut at sunset and were booked in for the night. We rose early at 6AM to make our final assent - 40 more minutes to the peek!



There were scenes from Lord of The Rings filmed at this stunning location, and it was easy to see why. Literaly breathtaking.



A hundred years ago this forest was full of stunning Kauri trees over a thousand years old. They were all cut down in a just a few decades. Fortunetaly they are starting to grow back again the the help of the Depertment of Conservaton. That's great news for our great great great great grandchildren!
We took a different track back down, turning our knees to jelly 5 hours later.

I'm sure Camille will agree that this walk was more than worth the suffering!


-carl