Previously, on Pixeleyes: We’d begun our trip to Coromandel with some truly gorgeous weather. We’d gone off the main highway, letting Google & Apple maps find us new directions. So far we’d made it to Paeroa… stay tuned to see how it turns out!
Favourite hangout of the Aucklanders?
We stopped on the side of the road and walked up to the top of the hill to see over the bay
It’s a pretty good view!
Even if Anna is pulling faces in the background
Erm, another panorama. I’ll have to re-export this so you can actually see it!
We stopped for lunch here. Idyllic
I got pretty good at snapping pics from a moving car
And after deciding Fantail Bay was too busy, we turned back and found this small beach
So THIS is where all the postcard images are taken!
We decided our poor car hadn’t had enough of the dirt roads, so went to Port Charles as well as Port Jackson
But you can’t get enough of the views
After finding a place to camp at 8pm and hastily putting up the tent, we found Rings Beach
Where Andy & Anna promptly started driving each other mental
The sand here is just tiny pieces of shell
What a sunset!
Tonight/tomorrows weather is looking bad, so we’re glad we got some time at the beach today
I love the shades of the hills in the background
On our way back to Rotorua we thought we’d stop in at Hobbiton in Matamata. Then we saw the entry price and continued on
After sleeping in the tent in pouring rain and wind last night, we found an extremely peaceful lakeside cabin near Rotorua
I’ve always wanted to see Tarawera
And over the new bridge, onto the Napier-Taupo road.
Where we found another waterfall.
In Napier, Devon had a surprise for us!
And he got many surprises the next day for Christmas
Even the cat ate well
Andy taught Devon some tricks on the trampoline
He’s a pretty fast learner!
Who’s teaching who?
And that’s it! Now I’m back at work and the country is gearing up for another potential cyclone. Ah, this sub-tropical lifestyle can be a bitch!
Written by:Marie Armstrong