Bay of Plenty

The Coromandel Peninsula has some awesome coastline and after a night in Coromandel Town we set off first thing to the Hot Water Beach. I have no idea if there other beaches like this anywhere else in the world, but I doubt it. You literally dig a hole in the sand, allowing hot water to bubble through, creating your own little hot pool. When I say hot I mean it, you have to make sure you add a bit of cooler water otherwise you'll seriously burn your backside.

There were a handful of other people enjoying the beach and halfway through my digging experiment a Japanese fellow asked if he could help. There we were, me in my baggies and him in his worryingly tiny speedo, 2 peas in a hot pod, early one chilly morning somewhere in New Zealand. Quite a bizarre situation but an extremely rewarding result. An older kiwi chap with an old Jack Russel struggling to keep up came wandering by, offering assistance to those in need and more importantly seeing if there were any bubbling beauties. We briefly discussed the weather and he departed, seemingly irritated that he'd only discovered a tall South African and a strange Japanese chap. Walking back to our camper a while later, I noticed that I'd left the lights on and 5 minutes later was unsuccessfully turning the key. So funny that people are often there for a reason and how fleeting interactions are sometimes more important than they initially seem. I used the old kiwi blokes jumper cables and the Japanese fellows car to get the camper going again.

We continued past Cathedral Cove, where we walked for an hour, and on to Purangi Wine Farm (the third visited on our trip so far). With all sorts of fruit wines from plum to feijoa and a history and general life lesson from a talkative kiwi, it made for a really interesting stop.