The Boys came back from Auckland with a holden comodore station wagon (i.e. estate car) from Auckland- with the help of Mark and we were keen to test it out... well we certainly did that! We took her up to Fletcer's Bay- the very tip of the peninsular and about as far away from anything as we could get! We went via the 309 route, a gravel track through the mountains, as there were kaui trees around to be seen (the huge trees that once covered everywhere round here but are now really rare). Once we were back on normal roads we thought it would be smooth going till the top- no such luck, the road up to Fletcher's Bay was the same, only on steeper hills and with greater drops- scary. Still the views made it worth it and the Bay was stunning; so isolated and rugged- a total change from the other beaches we've been too. Infact it was so isolated that the boys felt inspired to skinny dip- the longdrop was exposure enough for me so I stuck to morning swims while the boys started the fire and boiled water for tea . So lovely and much more refreshing than a shower- I was quite content even without such luxuries... who'd have thought it?!
After a night of rum drinking and sitting on beach (very pirates of the caribbean) we decided it was time to test our legs and took the costal walk round to Stony Beach. It was very steep in parts and the heat made some of it almost impossible (Clare and I had a moment's strop when confronted with yet another cliff to climb) but after a few pit stops we made it and could fianlly appreciate the views without sunscreen in our eyes! We ate our sarnies on the beach and prepared for the walk back- in total it was about 12miles round trip, we slept rather soundly that night!
We've now travelled down to Rotarua, a city built round a volcanic lake to do all the volcanic springs and geysers... very strange to be walking through a nice park and suddenly come across a pit of bubbling mud- even the drains on the street smoke occasionally- mind you the smell gives you quite a bit of warning, it reaks of rotten egg... the boys are taking full advantage of this and blame every nasty smell they emit on geothermal activity. Anyway we're off now to take a dip in the Polynesian Spa hot water pools which are supposed to have theraputic effects (tough life)-
lots of love as always
Annie
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