Coromandel Peninsula

Sue: I have been away for a couple of days to the East Coast to see Whitianga and the Coromandel Penisula.
This was where New Zealand's first gold was discovered although I didnt see any of it!

In Whitianga there are 4000 permanent residents but it gets really busy in the summer months when the Kiwis come here and stay in their holiday homes (called Bachs) which originally were tin huts but now it would cost you £1m to buy one!

On the way we stopped at various places, like Hot Water Beach where you can dig in the sand for hot spring water and make your own spa pool! I was really looking forward to this but unfortunately you can only do it for 2 hours either side of low tide and we were too late!

Also stopped at Cathedral Cove, another beautiful beach which has an enormous limestone arch to walk through. It was a bit of a hike to get there.....dont need a step class for a while but worth every effort to see!

Last stop was the Bone Carving Workshop, they used to make the carvings from whales but now use cows!

So I chose my design and sat down in the workshop where you used a dentist drill to get the shape which was very scary and even scarier was the owner who had no patience and I wasnt gonna argue with her when she was armed with a drill!

Then lots of sandpaper rubbing whilst it was in a vice! It so reminded me of my classes at school and me not being creative at all! Why was I doing this????!! Anyway with the help of the teacher I managed to get a necklace finished, dont think I would wear it to be honest!!!!

Stayed in a backpackers place in a dorm room which was my first time! It was quite an experience, luckily I ended up in a smaller room with 4 beds as opposed to 12 beds! They are all bunk beds and the rooms were tiny! It felt very strange sleeping in a room full of strangers and I couldnt relax at all!

I met some great people on the trip and it was nice mixing with backpackers again! .......lasagne & a pint (locals call it a handle!) for £3.00!