Day 231 (February 8): First Impressions of the Coromandel Peninsula

Our last stop in New Zealand was meant to be our most relaxing. The Coromandel Pensinsula is apparently the posh weekend getaway for the 40% of NZ's population that lives in Auckland. There's a ferry from the Big City to Coromandel town and plenty of evidence all around that these folk have second homes on the hillsides all around. And for good reason: it's beautiful here. For example, this is the view from our rental just north of Whitianga (pronounced, "Fiddy-ang-uh" with the first syllable rhyming with the artist 50¢).

Our first outing was to a place called Hot Water Beach, where we were told you can dig down in the sand and create a natural hot tub for yourself. This is sufficiently true that the cafe next to the carpark rents shovels for a $10 deposit and $10 for up to three hours. Here's Cate at the bottom of the hole that we inherited and then expanded. Indeed, the water at the bottom was quite hot But it never filled up in a way to make it appealing.

Here's the gang watching the movie "Up." The scene was the same for The Sound of Music and the Les Mis 25th Anniversary Concert. We also discovered Netflix's Night on Earth while we were here. Who knows why but our kids are never happier than when they watch a nature documentary.

Lily had a serious schoolwork session at the local library, on a Saturday, no less.

Elise and I had a legitimate date night. On the advice from everybody we've met in Whitianga, we drove about half an hour north to Luke's Kitchen. It was everything we had been told to expect and was upstaged only by the spectacular sunset.