Te Puia - Maori Show

After we had wandered around the thermal area, we headed to the marae to watch the Maori show, which commenced with the traditional Maori welcome.





We were then invited into the marae to watch a performance of traditional Maori songs and dances.






Including the infamous haka - a bit different to the All Blacks version.

Te Puia - Thermal Area

This afternoon we went to Te Puia on the outskirts of Rotorua to look at the thermal areas and experience a Maori show. We were fortunate to see the Pohutu geyser going off when we got into the park.




The park has lots of areas of bubbling mud, smelly sulphur, silica terraces and of course the geysers for which the park is most famous.

Skyline Gondola, Rotorua

Our next port of call was Rotorua, and as the sun was shining, we headed straight to the Skyline Gondola, a cable car taking us up the hill behind Rotorua.





The view down over the lake and city was spectacular.







There are many crazy activities to do at the top including luging down the hill or a bungy swing. We settled for the gentle cable car option to return back to the bottom.

Waihi Beach & Martha's Mine

Our accommodation was a cabin at the Waihi Beach Top 10 campsite. The highlight of our stay was bouncing on the jumping pillow - we haven't laughed so much in ages. Laughed too much however causing us to fall over many times.




A much more civilised activity - a cold beer enjoyed on our cabin balcony overlooking the campsite and pool area.





The following morning, we stopped off at Martha's Mine to show Charlotte and Dougal the gold mine.






And no we haven't shrunk, the truck really is that big.

Cathedral Cove

Today we headed to Cathedral Cove on the east coast of the Coromandel Peninsula - one of my favourite places in NZ. The cove is not accessible by road and involves a half hour undulating walk across stunning scenery - this is a view on route.




As we had set off quite early so as to beat the incoming high tide, the beach was pretty quiet and we had plenty of it to ourselves.





It also meant we were able to walk through the cove.






This is another view on the walk back showing the stunning colours of the water.






On the way back we stopped off at Stingray Bay, we didn't see any, but the bay itself was deserted and beautiful.






This is a view around the bay with a mini cave. Again, the photo shows the amazing blueness of the water.






Finally, we stopped at the look out back at the carpark for a view down to Hahei beach, a popular holiday destination for Kiwis.

Driving Creek Railway

Today we headed off on our North Island trip with Charlotte and Dougal, first stop Coromandel Town and a trip on the Driving Creek Railway. We had done this with my parents last year so knew that this is a really good attraction.





We were very fortunate with the weather and had stunning views from the lookout at the top out over the Peninsula.






The railway is a feat of engineering, this tunnel being an example of that - just big enough for the train to fit through.






From here, we headed over the top of the Peninsula down into Whitianga and our accommodation for the night. This is the view from the apartment balcony over the marina.

Shakespear Regional Park

Charlotte & Dougal are now back with us after their trip to the South Island, and Royston and myself now on holiday for the rest of the year :o) Today we headed down the Whangaparaoa peninsula to Shakespear Regional Park. Despite the prediction of rain, we had a lovely warm and sunny day.



The morning was spent at Army Bay with Royston teaching Dougal the art of surfcasting. As we are currently experiencing King tides (very high), they didn't have to wade out too far to be up to their waists.




Dougal managed to pick up casting very quickly and was getting some decent distances on his casts. Here they are playing the waiting game...





And finally a fish! A very small kahawai... This one went back into the sea along with the other small snappers caught by Royston.






Once all the bait had gone, we headed to Te Haruhi beach the otherside of the park for a picnic lunch and a walk on the beach. The view of Auckland city in the distant background.