Friday 5th
After work we went for another walk in Cornwall Park, enjoying the autumn colours on the trees.
Saturday 6th
Both Bhavni and I were off work, so we went to Drury. At drury they were doing some scout flying and there were no gliders available, so after staying a bit, we decided to leave. With my driving we ended up in Papakura, where we bought a bit of food, before going to Hanua. We drove to the falls and after seeing them, we sat at a bench nearby and spent a bit of time reading up about Australia.
It started to get a bit chilly, so we headed back (via Drury) to home.
Sunday 7th
We had decided that today we would go to the Corromandal. Leaving early in the cloudy conditions we drove past Thames and onto Tapu on the winding road which goes to Corromandel Town. At Tapu we turned on to the unsealed road and went to Rapauru Water Gardern. Bhavni and Sita had been there before, but I had not. Most of the blooms had gone and the gardens were mainly rich foliage. The gaggle of ducks wondering around the pond seemed to be enjoying themselves. We had a wonder around the gardens and walked to the waterfall (about 20mins walk each way).
From the water gardens we went back to the main road and drove to Coromandal Town, where after a brief look around we went to a cafe and had a spot of lunch. We had some tea and ordered a nut loaf and a energy salad. The salad was really good – with beetroot and seeds, but the nut loaf was so so.
After looking around some of the shops there, admiring the trinkets (and bookstands), we headed in the car down the famous unsealed 309 road. Not that far in we came to Stu’s wild pigs. There were a bunch of wild pigs on the side of the road – luckily not the pink kinds. Parking on the side, with Bhavni sitting in the car, I got out for a closer look. There were some really small cute looking ones as well as the larger ones. Whilst I was looking Bhavni thought it would be a good idea to throw food at them, and then got worried as they clamoured for food. I was fine and got in the car after a bit and carried on.
The next stop was the waterworks, further up the road, a very kiwi type of park. It is full of strange contraptions powered by water and also full of boards with facts and jokes as well as sculptures. They also seemed to be in the process of repairing things as some items were missing, but it was still quite fun. Walking round, Bhavni kept on being evil and spraying me with water whenever she could from the exhibits. We even had a go on some of the more home grown rides – including a hamster wheel.
After we left the waterworks we carried on the 309, admiring Castle Rock from afar (2 hours to ascend). We got out further up the road and got out at the Waiau Waterfall, where we took some photos (some of the tourists were actually swimming in the water as we got there).
The 309 ended and we ended up on the SH25 south of Whitianga, which we took towards home. However we took the Hot Water Beach road and went towards the Cathedral cove route, parking at the tourist parking near the small town. What an amazing view, beautiful sea with islands in view. We walked on the track from there to Gemstone Bay (Cathedral Cove was much further a walk). It was still a decent down lots of steps to sea level, where we took some photos then headed back. Pretty tiring for such a short walk. There was an American Lady who took our photo as she was just waiting for the rest of her group to return.
We then drove the 6km to the Hot Water Beach. The sun was getting lower, so we did not think it was worth actual digging in the sand for immersing ourselves in the water, so we had a walk with the low sun (the wrong side). The waves were amazing and looking down the beach there was lots of mist in the air. Driving home it was quite dark soon, and after a nice shot in town to get a reflection of a hill in the water it was dusk and we could see the stars and when there were no cars the milky way. This lasted till around Thames where we filled up (places had no petrol), then the light of the road and Auckland was too much.
Thursday 11th
We decided to go to the cinema. We went to see Identity Thief. Well after about half an hour, Bhavni and I walked out – what a rubbish film.
Friday 12th
Entertaining today. I was picked up at lunch time by Bhavni to help do some cooking even. After I got home I was on frying duty. We were still finishing of the Puri’s when Silvia and James arrived and they watched us cook. A bit later Shelina and Grant came around, but we were finished by that time. We had a nice evening – James and Grant hit it on talking about diving. We had Bhavnis carrot cake for desert as well as a lemon meringue pie that Silvia had bought.
Sunday 14th
After a bit of a rush in the morning we found ourselves at the bus stop on Great South Road. It was great timing as the bus came just a few minutes after we got there and took us all the way to the Wharf in the city, where we bought 2 ferry tickets to Rangitoto, on the 9.15 ferry. If we had not got that bus we would have missed the ferry!
A short ferry ride (via Devenport), we were docked at Rangitoto. Departing we went on our way, through the red fern grove, before joining the main summit track. There track slowly sloped up, through some really unusual scenery. There were quite large plants and shrubs as well as areas of black broken up lava.
We got to a junction and took the side route on the Wilson Track instead of the main track, which went around the summit meeting the vehicle track on the other side. This was nice as we avoided the loud group of American teenagers and we saw no one else on the track. We could even see and hear some of the birds with the quiet. The track was harder and uneven going up and down alot, but worth it. From the vehicle track there were bordwalks to the top, which had some amazing views. We helped a elderly couple coming down by breaking a fallen branch into a makeshift walking stick.
At the top we sat down and had some food and drinks whilst enjoying the view. You can really see the profile of the land, most of Rangitoto seems quite flat until near the cone.
After our break, we headed down and took the side walk to see the lava caves. It was dark, we did not have torches and we wanted to catch the next ferry home, so we did not stay for long, though I did venture in – nearly tripping in the insufficient light from the phone.
We got to the Wharf with time to spare, so we tried to sit on some uncomfortable rocks, before giving up and going to see some of the Batches there. We saw the ferry coming in so we made our way back and boarded.
As we were in town, we did some clothes shopping – I actually bought some jeans. We then headed home for some well deserved chilling time.
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