Nature Spa to Wellington

Jan 11

We saw a hedgehog in the dark biking back to the hostel!!! And we didn’t jump on the trampoline….. we were way to full...

We bussed out of Coromandel town to Whitianga in the morning. It was a beauuuutful twisty drive through lush jungly gorges and valleys. The ocean is soso blue! There were beautiful lookouts to the postcard beaches from the tops of hills. Whitianga was very hot. We walked to a little ferry that cost $3 to go for 5 mins. Then we took a 30 min shuttle to Hot Water Beach. We found our campsite and then headed straight for the beach since the high tide had passed and we needed to get there while there was still sand. Turns out there is a (very!) hot spring running under the beach to the ocean. If you dig about a foot down, you hit hot water! The pools fill up, and you can dig a bit away from the underground stream to get cooler water to mix with it so it isn’t too hot. Many cafes around the beach hire little spades for digging holes, but we just showed up and scavenged a pre-dug hole. We found the peeeerfect one temperature-wise, and renovated it to our liking. We lounged there for hours and got all pruny until the tide came in and filled our pool. The ocean here on the east side of the peninsula is the Pacific, and it is much colder and wavier than the Tasman Sea on the other side. There were also a lot of tourists everywhere, but we didn’t mind too much because one of them saved us the backbreaking work of digging us our personal outdoor spa!

Hot Water Beach. 

Really awesome rock formations at Hot Water Beach! 

            Back at the campsite, we had a delicious dinner of handmade bread from a stand in Coromandel, some deluxe garlic and herb cheese, avocado and tomato sandwiches. We have been monitoring the free bin in the communal kitchen. So far we have gleaned some cereal, cookies, and a big bag of potatoes.

Perfect tree lounge chair. 

Laura's henna monarch I did for her. 

            Our travel plans have evolved drastically. Originally we were going to stop at the thermal town of Rotorua, but turns out there aren’t any busses there tomorrow or the next day. So we decided to skip it and take a plane down from Auckland to Wellington tomorrow. Sounds expensive, but it’s comparable to bussing, and much quicker. We will have a few days in Wellington to celebrate Laura’s birthday before heading to our next farm on Jan 15. We are looking forward to free activities, good food, and staying in one place for a while in Wellington.

Jan 13

We arrived in Wellington around 8 30pm and had dinner at a good (but ridiculously expensive) sushi place. We are so spoiled in Vancouver for good sushi and cheap food! After dinner we went bar hopping to a trillion different places along the main street. People don’t even go out until midnight here! We made lots of friends and danced the night away to celebrate Laura’s birthday! We even got free drink vouchers from our hostel for the occasion!

Frida menus at the taco place. 

Laura opening her birthday cards. 

This morning we went to a couple farmers markets and got some fruits and veggies. And we went to an awesome little Mexican restaurant for lunch. I had a veggie taco. I was very happy there pretending I was Frida Kahlo in Mexico. We’re heading out to the botanical gardens in a bit