I'm in hot water. But more of that later..
Yesterday (Monday) was a travelling day and all went very smoothly. We left Paihia having only broken one wine glass (OF1) and drove back south through Auckland to Thames at the base of the Coromondal peninsula. We were lucky as the traffic going back north to Auckland from the Coromondal was nose to tail as it was the end of a bank holiday. The 'Tuscany on Thames Motel' is just like those you see in the american movies. The Tuscany bit comes from the reception building which is supposed to be Italian - needs a vivid imagination! Then a row of motel rooms - just like Psycho….. Still the room is enormous, it has a double spa bath, sofa, sky TV, swimming pool and stove hob (hurrah we can cook!). It is also spotless and the kitchen implements are neatly arranged in a drawer - L2 would approve, OF2 does! The only downside is that it is on the state highway and opposite the Toyota distribution centre (not the seaview we had at our last place). However, it is quiet at night.
Today (Tuesday) was a 26°C scorcher. I treated myself to iggs today (this is part of my 'teach yourself New Zealand' course). I had iggs and bacon - delicious. Anyway, after my bacon omelette I was happily sitting on the toilet when the tsunami siren went off in Thames. My first thought was, "did I cause it?", my second, " but it was only chicken last night" and then my final thought with my trousers around my ankles was, "help!" However, it must have been a test as it ceased as I was trying to decide what valuable item to take with me (OF1 or my camera?) and we did not see the local population flee for the hills.
Our first destination was Hahei, about 1 hour along some very hilly and windy roads - great views. OF1 beautifully summarised Hahei as the perfect beach resort. Lovely clapperboard houses, a small row of shops, bars and eating places and the perfect, tropical beach with a fantastic green-blue sea with the gentle roar of white-capped waves washing in. After a coffee (NZ is proving a coffee enthusiast's heaven as well) we opted for the park and ride to the top of the cliffs and the start of our walk. A bus from about 1960 arrived, driven by a member of ZZ top who set off like Lewis Hamilton. A tad worrying all round but he got us there. The clifftop walk was about 40 minutes with superb views before arriving at Cathedral Cove which has a classic coastal arch that you can walk through (except at high tide). I started to give OF1 a quick coastal geomorphology lesson but...... Again this was a picture postcard beach and a great lunch stop. We took a lot of photos and realised that there is going to be months of image sorting to be done on our return.
We walked back and took the steep uphill last kilometre at pace so we could treat ourselves to a boysenbeery (or in English - boysenberry) icecream - what is a boysenberry?*
Our next destination was another one of those wildly named NZ towns: Hot Water Beach. So named because the beach has hot water... We hired a spade for $5 and set off up yet another lovely beach to a throng of folk who, from a distance, looked like they were attending a revival meeting. As we got closer we could see some digging and others lying in the dug depressions which were filled with water. There seemed to be smoke over the area. In certain areas if you dug a hole, hot water filled it - just like that! After a cold water attempt, we procured a first rate hole as a nice German couple left (they took their towels with them) which had two hot springs in it. It was very weird lying in a hot bath on the beach! However, it was all very matey and everyone was chatting and taking pictures of themselves plus asking for group shots - we flung ourselves into the fun. In some areas there were notices warning you not to dig as the water heated by volcanic activity underground was too hot - in fact it was too hot to walk on the sand - as many folk who read and pooh poohed the notice quickly found out and did the high-stepping quick exit dance - it was a hoot to lie there and watch. We have images of both of us in a hot water hole although I do resemble a great white whale. OF1 is a little pink on return to Tuscany and both of us plastered with sand.
On the way home in the steep twisty section of road we noticed a dust cloud rise up in front of us. A few seconds later we saw a lorry upside down about 10m beneath the road surface in the bush. We had been about 20-30 seconds behind the incident. A couple of cars and lorries had already stopped so we moved on. We felt a little bit guilty but figured that we brought no expertise to the party and there were already enough people helping and phoning. A grim reminder that all roads need to be treated with caution.
Now back chez Tuscany with a juicy NZ steak for supper. Looking forward to it as to date we have seen field upon field of cattle.
Tomorrow looks another good day so we are planning a forest tramp (as they are called in NZ) in the nearby Kauaeranga Valley..
Image from Cathedral Bay as one of two OFs in a hot water hole could be upsetting to children young and old (and we did not take our phone with us!).
*Cross between a European Raspberry (Rubus idaeus), a Common Blackberry (Rubus fruticosus), an American Dewberry (Rubus aboriginum) and a Loganberry (Rubus × loganobaccus)
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