Monday, May 31, 2004
Deluge, Mountains, and New Friends
The last few days Meghan and I have decided to get out and start exploring with our "new" car. For some reason unbeknownst to us, the Coromandel Peninsula called to us. Perhaps it was the spot where our finger hit the map first, but never the less, we went.
Surprisingly, the little car doesn't suck as much as one would assume. So what if we don't know what kind it actually is, but it seems to get a decent kilometerage and holds up well at those indi speeds. Meghan vowed that she would never drive such an abomination of backward construction... Well that lasted only a few days and in no time she had her hand at rolling down the window to shift and drifting over onto the shoulder. Naturally one would expect her to attempt such a crazy new experience of driving the backwards car on the wrong side of the road under the most ideal of conditions, but not Meghan! She took the bull by the horns as soon as it got dark and blustery. She did remarkably well considering the car and conditions. At least now I understand why there are fingernail gouges in the passenger dash and bits of foam torn from the seat. I also didn't realize just how fast a life of 24 years could be replayed. Apparently it takes approximately .05 sec and leaves a lot of time replay when driving 20 km.
Death defying driving aside, we went over to Thames (pronounced tems) at the base of the Coromandel Peninsula. We stopped a bit outside to camp at Miranda hotsprings which provided the much needed stress relief and soothing warmth. Acquiring a backpacking room at the campgrounds was a great idea considering that the alternative was to stay in a tent out in a heavy downpour. It was nice to sit inside and watch some lake in the sky apparently drain in seconds.
Interestingly enough, Kiwi have discovered a great method of camping. There are tent spots, backpacker rooms (a room with bunks), and places for car-campers. The remarkable thing is the other amenities that are also available. There is a common room, (which is large and has a TV which we made use of to watch some hideously bad yet somehow interesting movie) a full kitchen with many ovens burners, and sinks (which the local women's patchwork club had annexed, laundry, and extensive showers. This place also offered a luxurious geothermal-heated pool. It was a wonderful place, but definitely Kiwi land.
Finally arriving in Thames, we looked around and found modern computers, sorry TCP, and were able to upload some of the pictures up til this point. Thames is a bustling little town situated at the edge of the flats to the west and nestled next to the mountains of the Coromandel Peninsula. The storms of the last night having given way to a beautiful blue day we drove out to the Kaitarakihi park information center which is a trailhead to tramping the peninsula. What we found was simply gorgeous rainforest covered hills. There were some short little hikes which we decided to tackle and discovered the incredible vegetation, but also that time estimates for trails is grossly inflated. Perhaps they just want people to feel like they are fast hikers. Our short little hikes took us up to a couple "overlooks" which were in dire need of some trimming but allowed a bit of a look.
Having gotten some email from friends of Angie and JD and realizing that they in fact did not live in Hamilton as thought, but Auckland, we headed back to Auckland for a couple more days of the big city and new friends.
Being tourists again in Auckland and not having gone up in the prominent Sky Tower, up we went. It was quite a view and a comfy place to watch seemingly sane people throw themselves off a perfectly decent building. An adventure not to be had that day, I am sure I will be able to convince Meghan before the trip ends that she indeed wants to do the same thing.
That evening we went over to the house of Brad and Carol Riley. It was a great time and our gift of a bottle of wine, I hope, makes up in some small way to the other bottles that we drank of the Rileys. They were wonderful people and even baby Zack was ok with the idea of crazy Americans dropping in for the evening.
Having spent the night in the guest room and recovered a bit from the hang over, I think we are finally ready to make out way south for the winter.
Surprisingly, the little car doesn't suck as much as one would assume. So what if we don't know what kind it actually is, but it seems to get a decent kilometerage and holds up well at those indi speeds. Meghan vowed that she would never drive such an abomination of backward construction... Well that lasted only a few days and in no time she had her hand at rolling down the window to shift and drifting over onto the shoulder. Naturally one would expect her to attempt such a crazy new experience of driving the backwards car on the wrong side of the road under the most ideal of conditions, but not Meghan! She took the bull by the horns as soon as it got dark and blustery. She did remarkably well considering the car and conditions. At least now I understand why there are fingernail gouges in the passenger dash and bits of foam torn from the seat. I also didn't realize just how fast a life of 24 years could be replayed. Apparently it takes approximately .05 sec and leaves a lot of time replay when driving 20 km.
Death defying driving aside, we went over to Thames (pronounced tems) at the base of the Coromandel Peninsula. We stopped a bit outside to camp at Miranda hotsprings which provided the much needed stress relief and soothing warmth. Acquiring a backpacking room at the campgrounds was a great idea considering that the alternative was to stay in a tent out in a heavy downpour. It was nice to sit inside and watch some lake in the sky apparently drain in seconds.
Interestingly enough, Kiwi have discovered a great method of camping. There are tent spots, backpacker rooms (a room with bunks), and places for car-campers. The remarkable thing is the other amenities that are also available. There is a common room, (which is large and has a TV which we made use of to watch some hideously bad yet somehow interesting movie) a full kitchen with many ovens burners, and sinks (which the local women's patchwork club had annexed, laundry, and extensive showers. This place also offered a luxurious geothermal-heated pool. It was a wonderful place, but definitely Kiwi land.
Finally arriving in Thames, we looked around and found modern computers, sorry TCP, and were able to upload some of the pictures up til this point. Thames is a bustling little town situated at the edge of the flats to the west and nestled next to the mountains of the Coromandel Peninsula. The storms of the last night having given way to a beautiful blue day we drove out to the Kaitarakihi park information center which is a trailhead to tramping the peninsula. What we found was simply gorgeous rainforest covered hills. There were some short little hikes which we decided to tackle and discovered the incredible vegetation, but also that time estimates for trails is grossly inflated. Perhaps they just want people to feel like they are fast hikers. Our short little hikes took us up to a couple "overlooks" which were in dire need of some trimming but allowed a bit of a look.
Having gotten some email from friends of Angie and JD and realizing that they in fact did not live in Hamilton as thought, but Auckland, we headed back to Auckland for a couple more days of the big city and new friends.
Being tourists again in Auckland and not having gone up in the prominent Sky Tower, up we went. It was quite a view and a comfy place to watch seemingly sane people throw themselves off a perfectly decent building. An adventure not to be had that day, I am sure I will be able to convince Meghan before the trip ends that she indeed wants to do the same thing.
That evening we went over to the house of Brad and Carol Riley. It was a great time and our gift of a bottle of wine, I hope, makes up in some small way to the other bottles that we drank of the Rileys. They were wonderful people and even baby Zack was ok with the idea of crazy Americans dropping in for the evening.
Having spent the night in the guest room and recovered a bit from the hang over, I think we are finally ready to make out way south for the winter.
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