Wednesday 5 March 2008 - The Sun Blazes over the Coromandel Peninsula

This bright sunny day saw us continuing in 'holiday' mode, lying in due to our blackout curtains and silent surroundings.

We visited Captain Cook's Beach, a pleasing spot where the Great Man plotted the course of the planet Mercury.

Then on to Hot Water Beach, hyped by the Rough Guide as upstaging Cathedral Cove, but it was a disappointment. I watched whilst Sue rubbed her bottom in the sand, and her elbows with heavily tattooed mid-European men and women, seeking and finding scalding fresh water which moments later would be cooled and diluted by a wave of cold salty water.

She soon tired of this and we enjoyed a stroll along the beach, watching surfers battling with rooster tail waves in the strong breeze, and an Australian Gannet plunging for its breakfast.

The cafe at Hot Water Beach was in a different class to the beach itself. Great coffee, mud cake, ambience, and toilets with soft paper (very rare here) and individual towels. It gets my Best Presented Cafe award!

After lunch on Buffalo Beach in sunny Whitianga,

we pootled on to Kuaotunu, where the highly recommended Black Jack Lodge came up trumps with a lovely en-suite double room.

We enjoyed settling in here, then watched Carl, the owner, carefully decant his home brewed beer into bottles, before renting a couple of kayaks.

This time I enjoyed the experience, despite the wet bum, as we coasted up and down the river behind a Shag which only turned around when we did and only moved on when we got to within a few feet of him.

There were Herons, Oyster Catchers and Turnstones around, as after practising on the river we set off into the brisk waves of the ocean.

We were soon surfing on these waves and whilst we didn't go far we did have fun. It helped that our en-suite shower was available only 10 metres from where we landed the kayaks.

We've been aware of the ubiquitous "Lock It or Lose It' signs here in New Zealand, and have been careful with our possessions, especially after hearing some horror stories about thefts. We usually have to pay a 'key deposit'. Black Jack is an exception. No key deposit here. That's because there is no key, and tonight we are quite happy to sleep with our French windows wide open, just protected from the brightly starlit night by a thin curtain...

Messages:

To all those going on the forthcoming 'RentaHostel Weekend': - hello everyone, have a great time, and Bon Appetit.

To Ian: I haven't forgotten your 'Silkbody' order - haven'tseen any yet but we expect to do so in Auckland next week.

To those who replied to the last message: - hello (especially Kate and Andrew - glad you like the photos), and yes the Tui was identified by its 'bib'.