- Visiting the West Coast of Scotland
- This is it!!!
- On the road again
- Back Country – NZ
- NZ update – east coast
- Back Country – very different this time!
- Lake Taupo
- The Coromandel
- Mini-break
- More little adventures – NZ
- Getting out and about again!
- More holidays!!
- A new year of adventures
- The mountain cottage
- Ginny’s visit
- Another visit – Marni and Jodi
- More changes!
- First stop in Canada – Niagara Falls
- Quick visit – Toulouse and Venet les Bains
- Ffald-y-Brenen
- The Cotswolds
- Back in France again!!
- Barcelona
- A much more interesting path – crossing the Irish Sea!
- London to Loxton
- Enniscorthy – a quick visit
- County Donegal
- South Gippsland, Victoria
- Next port of call
- Victorian High Country
- Snowy River Country
- Reindeer Lodge – Tanjil Bren
- Hiccup to Blessing
- Have tent will travel!!
- Family and friends – hugs and kisses
- Road Trip to the West
- Very snail like!
Hi….we arrived back in NZ early January, spent a couple of weeks at work and then headed off to the Coromandel area of the North Island. We still had a few days of leave owing so felt obliged to go on another break! We stayed in Paeroa the first night with friends Graham and Sue, and then headed off to explore the east coast of the Coromandel. First we called into the very beautiful Karangahake Gorge. Great bridge across the gorge and an interesting old railway tunnel to walk through – at least a kilometre long. A bit on the eerie side! Then out to Hot Water Beach – you actually get hot water bubbling up if you dig in the sand. We drove on, heading north. Visited Hahei Beach, very typical white sand of the North Island east coast. The west coast has the darker black sand we have at Oakura. Very different. We then checked out the views from the lookout near Cathedral Cove – lovely to see the islands in the bay – and walked through the bush to the cute and very secluded Stingray Cove. Just a little aside – when we walked down into Stingray Cove we noticed a couple running out of the water covering all sorts of “body parts” with hands and arms – they’d been caught nude bathing! Not what we expected! Sorry, no photos. Anyway, where were we? Oh yes. Graham and Sue traveled up to Kuaotuna – up on the northern coast – later that afternoon. We stayed in their caravan, while they used a batch/beach house owned by family. Lovely quiet time of morning teas, shared meals, walks on the beach and drives along the coast. The Coromandel is quite unspoilt, lots of little settlements or villages snuggled into small coves with bushland in between. Lovely mountain roads. We really enjoyed our time there. NZ never ceases to amaze us – always beautiful.
We are now back at Manna looking after a house full of guests who all bring something different to the dynamics of the house. Lots of meals to prepare, bathrooms to clean and people to care for. Good to be back – it is certainly never dull!!
Cheers and Blessings
Di and Reg
- Cathedral Cove
- Coromandel
- drives
- Hahei Beach
- Hot Water Beach
- Karangahake Gorge
- Kuaotuna
- nude
- Stingray Cove
- sunset