Coromandel, baby!

After two days on the road and onboard ferries we made it to Coromandel on the 27th. Coromandel is the NZ analogue to Soerlandet, Ihla Grande - in other words this is a very beautiful place. Since the weather gods seemed to be in a good mood, we decided to try our tent for the first time - which I must say was a success. Just look at this happy camper:

1x Happy Camper @ Hahei Holiday Resort

The two big attractions in Coromandel are Hot Water Beach and the Cathedral Cove. The Cathedral Cove is a church-like hole in the mountain through which you can walk, run, jump on one leg or whatever you might desire. The fact that it is situated on a beautiful beach of course makes this geological phenomenon a natural tourist attraction. After an hour of walking from our tent at Hahei Holiday Resort we got there. Here are a few pics:

Christian fancied this beach along the way to Cathedral Cove

Mari in front of the Cathedral Cove

Christian walking through the Cathedral Cove. Awesome, dude!

The 2nd big tourist attraction is the Hot Water Beach, which is, as the name suggests a beach with hot water running through the sand so that you can make your very own spa bath. This is how it works: Some volcanos develop huge underground reservoirs of superheated water. Over time, this water will escape to the surface — cooling on the way. There are two fissures at Hot Water Beach issuing water as hot as 64ºC (147ºF) at a rate as high as 15 litres/minute. This water contains large amounts of salt (NOT salt water), calcium, magnesium, potassium, fluorine, bromine and silica. There are other hot water springs nearby but the location of these two springs on the beach make them unique.

At low tide naturally heated thermal mineral water bubbles to the surface for all to enjoy, simply dig yourself a pool, mix together a little hot mineral water with cool sea water and enjoy a hot spa on the beach. It’s easy to see why Hot Water Beach has been voted one of the top 10 beaches in the world.

Yup, just dig your own spa and chill out / get seriously sunburned

Since we did now have a shovel, we were not able to dig as deep as we wanted - we just got to dip our toes. Also, the place was kinda overcrowded, so we did not stay there very long. BUT nonetheless - we can say "been there, done that."

Instead of being lazy in a self-dug hot pool we went snorkling in Gemstone Bay - home of giant stingrays and crayfish. The rented snorkling gear at a fair price at a local store and set off into the bush to find the bay. It was incredible - 20 m sight and fascinating marine environment. We saw both crayfish and stingrays - but luckily we didn't pull off a Steve Irwin and got stung in the chest.

A stingray (djevlerokke paa norsk) waiting for his next victim - it might just be you

We'll bring you some more pics from our snorkling adventure later.

In 5 hrs we go to Australia - or "Oz" as they call it down here. The weather forecast for Sydney is jolly good, almost too good, with 30-40 degrees C. We will of course keep you posted as our journey continues - so make sure you check our blog every day! :)