Day 6 & 7 in New Zealand (Nov 30-Dec 1st)

A few of the upcoming posts won't have pictures, because I have temporarily (I hope) misplaced my camera cord, so I can't load the pictures from my camera to my computer. I hope to find it very very soon. But, at least details of what we've been doing and pictures can always come later.
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Day 6:
We are totally driving though the Shire. I wanted to see Hobbiton and the Shire, but it is $50 a person to take tour, so screw that. The area we camped in last night was a farm area, and today we are in a very-shire like territory. There is actually a lot of shire like territory around here. Ok. I wrote that part actually in the car. Now for the rest.

So, we finished our drive north, and made it to the campervan place in plenty of time. We dropped that off and then picked up our rental car. They were on completely opposite ends of the spectrum. We went from very big brand new VW campervan to small, 2 door hatchback old, beat up rental car. But, it was cheap, so no complaints from us.

We got out of Auckland, and drove the coastline. The coast road was amazing, so many twists and turns. According to R., very good motorcycle roads. In and out from the coastline constantly. We passed tons of bays and inlets, lots of turquoise/aquamarine water. We ended up in Hahei for the night. The Hahei is a beachtown on the Coromandel pennisula. We made it over there just with enough light to get our tent set up and to eat. That was that for the night.

Day 7: In Hahei, we spent the day slowly getting going, hanging out on the beach, doing laundry, and then going on a hike to Cathedral Cove. It was a lovely 30 minute hike down to the beach, and it was a totally amazing spot. There is this a big archway through a cove. There are beaches on either side. We hung out for a bit then made the hike back through the jungly/field terrain. There was crazy huge ferns everywhere. But yet, cattle farms. It is stange. How 2 terrains will closely mix and closely meet each other. You see it everywhere here. Terrains going from one to another, merging, flowing toward and apart.

After we got back, we got back on the road, and drove northward around the Coromandel pennisula. It had been raining off and on all day. Our camping gear was totally wet still, so we drove and found a very adorable backpackers in Coromandel. We got a private room, and it was this adorable attic room. We made a nice dinner, in the kitchen, got our tent dried out, and had a good night sleep. The people were so nice, and we didn't have cash, but they let us pay in the morning.

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Finally made it through the first week! So far behind, but will hopefully catch up here one of these days!
-N.