Roadtrip Part I

7th July 2016

10 days later we picked Chantal up from the airport and escaped Auckland’s highways asap – heading for the Coromandel. Explorations there took us into its wet green heart with lots of beautiful waterfalls and up misty mountains (which we marked as a ‘pacific islander experience’ because it recalled memories of hikes we have done on Tahiti) and some other wonders of nature like the Kauri tree high and thick, king of the New Zealand forest; idyllic falls of water that do their thunder undisturbed in the wild and…
the ‘Cathedral Cove’ and ‘Hot Water Beach’ were on Chantal’s wish list too so – as responsible guides – we programmed her to low expectations, preventing a disappointment. ‘Cathedral Cove’ is a magnificent arch formed in lime stone and good enough for filmmakers to be used in Narnia e.g. It’s an epic sight, but we warned her of lots of people with cameras, which is always the side effect of a place that’s beautiful and well known.
‘Hot Water Beach’ (beach where hot water streams out of the sand into the ocean) – We’ve been there twice before and never succeeded in digging ourselves a little pool in the sand where the water was neither to hot nor to cold. But this time we managed! It was just about to get dark when we started digging with our plates & bowls :p so by the time we where done we could enjoy a starry sky and the crashing of waves onto the beach at a distance. As the night progressed the pounding of the waves came closer and closer until we finally had to abandon our pool which was about to be taken over by the ocean.
I am still – or rather ‘more each day’ – in awe of the beauty of nature. Whether it’s the rock formations in riverbeds, waterfalls, trees or flowers. There is simply so much beauty in nature and then I am not even talking about the way it all works perfectly. Every flower and tree has their own unique way of spreading their seeds in ways we can’t even imagine!
It’s turning Autumn in New Zealand, so there is lots of trees shedding their colorful leaves. Autumn also brings more rain and cold winds with it, so that we’re not swimming and enjoying the sun as much, but rather fighting dampness – trying to dry clothes and shoes in an already damp car.
On the way south of the Coromandel now and looking forward to the hot springs in Rotorua and Taupo!
… A couple of hundred kilometers further we slip into the hot natural pools while cold rain splashes silently on the water around us. Getting out of the car and into the pool was a whole different story though as the winter had finally got on stage. Most of the time the car wasn’t far from the pool but even the few meters were agonizing sometimes. Although somehow it was quite fun and challenging as well.
Wet weather and short daylight forced us to huddle inside the car, playing cards while sipping on warm cups of tea. It got more and more out of hand as we started to make up punishments for the loser. Starting with the loser having to cook breakfast it went to having to jump into 11º cold water! … In the end we all ended up jumping in with the looser, but more to that later…
Eventually we had to drag ourselves away from the hot pools to head to Tongariro National Park. We hoped to walk the Tongariro alpine crossing but the weather didn’t let us. So we tried the 5 hour return walk to the closest lakes. Which turned out to be tough enough as we were poorly equipped (some of our socks became gloves, which worked fine as long as they stayed dry:). Our shoes were drenched soon and not long after the rest of our body was too.
We had lots of layers of clothing on, so that I was not very cold and having a blast – marching against raindrops that were catapulted by strong gusts to pierce our skin. I loved the fastness and the toughness of it. We managed to get to the lakes but fog was so dense that we couldn’t see them. No lakes, no mountains. Just lots of scrubs and feet shuffling forward over rocky grounds, then muddy and across a couple of rivers. Big shame that there weren’t any hot pools nearby…
But we forgot about the hot pools soon in the next few days as we drove over the forgotten world highway. We had chosen the route randomly and not known of its beauty.
Due to the big rainfalls there had been several rock slides which left huge rocks laying on the road. It took a long time to get across that road as we had to drive slowly and carefully. But that only served us well as none of us really wanted to leave this place behind quite yet. It was still raining as we drove through the gorges. Decent size hills were rising up on either side of us, maybe we could even call them small mountains. Clad in all shades of green, it gave the feeling of being in a rainforest. Very dense, green and alive, but quiet. Little waterfalls and rivers everywhere! A big part was unsealed road and we stopped occasionally to take in the breathtaking surroundings. One could have easily imagined being somewhere deep in a jungle. The road eventually led through to the Republic of Whangamamona. Yes an actual Republic!They weren’t very strict on their passport control though.. but Chantal did get her passport stamped at the local Hotel / Officials quarters…