Coromandel

Unfortunately, the first few days were a bit gray, but the landscape still looks promising. In the distance, you can always see the sea somewhere.

You don't really get far on the winding roads during the day, and that's fine with us. We want to take our time.

Our first great campsite is right on a bay (by the way, everything is free - IF you have a self-contained van! :))

This is where we sleep:

Anette is very proud of these pictures she took of the sunset here:

But appearances can be deceiving!

Because the clouds are not reflected in a huge, mirror-smooth lake, but only in a puddle!

This is what it looks like when you take the photo from the puddle:

(By the way, this is one of three French people we met at the campsite. We would spend 2 fun days with them.)

Pfff.. Puddle... unbelievable, isn't it?

The 'French people' (sounds racist, but that's what we call them now) gave us all sorts of tips for our future travels, as they had already reached the end of their year in New Zealand and would start their Asia trip in 3 days. What a pity!

******** CATHEDRAL COVE ********

Day 2 with the French people: we continued along the Coromandel coast towards the south. Here is the famous Cathedral Cove.

And the 'Cathedral' Cove is rightly so. A bay with hollowed-out sandstone formations that resemble a cathedral:

Right nearby, (self-contained!) cars were allowed to park overnight in the parking lot. The French people and us got up at 6 a.m. to admire the sunrise from the viewing platform:

******** LET'S CONTINUE ********

Always following the French people. :)

On the way, they noticed a small sales box with homemade jam. The price was written on the jars and the money was put into a donation box. This happens here quite often for eggs, jam, etc.

The husband of the jam maker happened to come by to bring new jars. We were given a kiwi jam as a gift :D

In a parking lot in Whangamata (a little further south), we stopped to make a pancake lunch together. This is where the jam came into play.

(It was very windy, hence the antisocial parking position)

Camille, Cyril, and Pierre.

and sous-chef Ânnes flipping the pancakes professionally.

The losing team had to jump into the (cold!!!!) sea, that was the deal. And Hannes was on the losing team. But in the end, everyone jumped into the sea (except the camerawoman, of course...)

******** CONTINUING ALONE: SOUTHERN COROMANDEL ********

Here we saw a full moon rising directly over the sea!

Praise the moon, the rising lord!

And then it was time for bed... Here you actually fall asleep early and wake up early.

******** WAIHI - NEW ZEALAND'S HEART OF GOLD *********

And then we were in Waihi. It is a small town that owes its existence to gold mining, which is still practiced today!

Right next to the town, a hole opens up - a huge open pit mine: Recently, there was a huge landslide here, which fortunately happened at night and did not cost any lives.

The town of Waihi lives from gold, and this process is shown to tourists on tours. The gold extraction takes place behind the doors of large halls, from which a lot of noise can be heard. Our guide explained everything to us from the outside, we were not allowed inside the facility with millions of dollars worth of gold in silver, of course. But our guide handed Hannes a large piece of silver and a mini gold bar to hold - just for a photo: