Strandhopping

We have left the interior behind us and are back on the coast in Tauranga. Here we spend a night at the campsite and play cards. In our excitement we lose our spatula and forget to close the umbrella. An employee actually asked us to do this because it was supposed to be very stormy that night. That was it and we felt very guilty when we noticed it. We spend the morning relaxing on the beach, where we watch the masses of surfers and walk up the promenade. It's Sunday and somehow we don't feel like going into the water at all. So we grab some coffee and cinnamon rolls and just decide to do nothing. During the day we drive from “town” to “town” further up the coast. We stay one night in Whangamata and after a pancake breakfast, which was actually almost lunchtime, we still feel like we're in the water. We rent two boards and go surfing one (unconsciously) last time. We then drive on to Hahei, where we first stop at the dive shop. I book two dives for tomorrow and we spend the rest of the evening relaxing at the campsite. Here we meet "Humpi" the one-legged duck, she will visit us again and again over the next two days.

In the morning Maren and Willi take me to the DiveShop, we get another coffee and say goodbye for later. I'm really looking forward. The equipment is distributed and, sitting on the boat, we are driven to the beach by tractor and from there we are let into the water. We drive to two very beautiful dive sites with an incredibly high abundance of fish. Back at the DiveShop, Maren has been waiting for me for almost an hour and we drive straight back to the campsite. We borrow shovels from here and want to dig a pool in the sand at Hot Water Beach. When we get there we realize that we don't have to dig anymore because the pools are already finished. Sometimes the water is so hot that we burn our feet. We find a small pool with pleasant water and relax there first.