The Coromandel

Josie celebrated her 25th birthday this week and to begin the birthweek festivities Nathan booked a whale and dolphin watching safari! This meant travelling back into Auckland to board the Dolphin Explorer and head out into the Hauraki Gulf in search of friendly sea mammals. Sadly we didn’t see any whales, but we did have the most amazing encounter with a pod of dolphins - at least 50 (including calves) came swimming right up to the boat. It truly was an awesome day!

We then headed south of Auckland and round to the Coromandel Peninsula - known to be the spot where Kiwis go for their summer holidays. 

Josie’s birthday day was celebrated in the town of Thames, by visiting a café featured in the New Zealand based Netflix movie “Falling Inn Love” and going on an amazing hike up to the Cookson Kauri Tree. For a birthday meal we decided to do a taste test of NZ Domino’s and Pizza Hut. We were both surprised to crown Pizza Hut the standout winner, sadly NZ Domino’s has nothing on its UK counterpart. The evening was topped off by Nathan roping in the British couple in the van next door to sing “happy birthday”, after which we all tucked in to cake and wine. A birthday well spent.

We then carried on our travels north to Corromandel Town. Our stopover here coincided with the All Blacks’ semi-final game against Ireland. We weren’t hopeful of finding anywhere to watch it at 8 am on a Sunday morning in this sleepy little town, but tried our luck at a local bar, and to our surprise it was absolutely heaving. We bagged the last free table just before kick off, only to realise Nathan had chosen the wrong day and place to wear a green jumper. Fashion faux pas aside, it was an awesome atmosphere and just the Kiwi rugby experience we’d both been hoping for.

After the All Blacks came out victorious, we ventured over to the east coast of the Coromandel and stumbled upon some of the most stunning beaches yet, as well as some awesome surfing towns.

A stand-out stop off was ‘Hot Water Beach’, where at low tide a small area of the exposed sand is heated by a volcanic vent. The general idea is to take a spade along and dig your own spa pool. After some trepidation we joined a Swiss couple in finding a good spot and got digging. Overall the experience was, well… unique. The water was surprisingly hot and you could almost call it relaxing, once you’d settled into the communal vibe.

Another highlight this week was hiring a kayak at Whangamāta Beach. We paddled a kilometre out to sea to a small group of islands which are sacred to the local iwi (Māori tribe). Our early wake up was rewarded by being the only kayak on the water as we got to explore a large collapsed volcanic blow hole that has created a turquoise lagoon in the centre of one of the islands - aptly named Doughnut Island. We also crisscrossed through various rock formations, much to Josie’s delight, and spotted a stingray in the shallows. Another awesome experience on this epic adventure.

You’ll all be pleased to hear that van life has been very smooth sailing of late. But if our fortunes should change, fear not, for Josie’s friend Sam very generously gifted her a Bunnings GiftCard for her birthday, so we will be able to continue our home improvements for the foreseeable future. In all seriousness, thanks Sam for the awesome present and to all of you for the lovely birthday wishes!