It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas?

 Merry Christmas for tomorrow! I'm now at the Howes, about to experience my first Summer Christmas. The vegetables are chopped and the Turkey's in the oven ready for our Christmas dinner tonight.
It still doesn't quite feel like Christmas as I've spent the past week at the beach, seeking shade from the sun; but it's getting there.
I've just spent the past week travelling around the Coromandel on my own, mostly in Hahei but with one night in Tairua and one in Thames. (At the top is a picture from Mount Paku, looking down on Tairua, Pauanui and Ocean Beach.)

 I was blessed with fabulous weather all week meaning that I could go down to the beach for a swim and to read my book every day. I spent one day on Cathedral cove again, one snorkelling in gemstone bay where there were some huge Snapper and pretty spotty and stripy fish (I must admit I'm not an expert on fish identification!). On the Wednesday I hitch hiked, along with another guy to make sure it was safe, to hot  water beach where we shared our hole with two very sweet kids.

 I cycled across to Cooks Beach on Friday and up to Shakespeare's Cliff (named by Cook because of it's resemblance to the cliffs in Dover.); I regretted choosing to cycle it half way up the very steep climb. All in all the cycling went very well and I was able to stop off for some plums on the road side on the way back. Only slight issue was when my chain came off and got stuck, but after a fair bit of yanking I was back on the road again.

To the right is the view from the top of Shakespeare's cliff. I was very lucky with my hostel's through out the week, they were all very friendly and well kept; especially the one in Thames, Gateway backpackers. The free BBQ was a nice surprise and it was lovely to sit back in the evening and watch a film in their TV lounge with the very friendly owner.

After a fantastic week of lone travelling I returned to civilisation by taking a bus to Auckland where I was met by Karen. It's nice to be back with the Howes for christmas. On that first night, after a monkfish curry, we went out to Auckland to see the Christmas lights on one very brightly lit street.
Yesterday Karen and I had a wonderful and sunny day on Waiheke Island. We took the ferry across at about 8.05am then wandered  to the nearby town for a very tasty blueberry and lemon scone before walking around 6.5km to Palm Beach. From here we just managed to catch a bus to the beautiful Stoneyridge vineyard for the most fantastic lunch and wine tasting. The photo above is of my lamb with garlic and kumara; the perfect Christmas present.
After taking a very crowded bus and ferry back we went out for a Thai meal along with Andrew and George then met up with their friends.
Travelling alone was a great experience and I enjoyed it for the week but it's nice to be back with people I know again. Looking forward to Christmas celebrations over the next couple of days; particularly the arrival of my parents on the 27th!

Merry Christmas from down under!!

Last week wwoofing

I actually wrote this on Monday but didn't have any internet so here it is now :)
 I’m now truly a lone traveller. Having said goodbye to Saskia, Jelte, Max and Fernando (new Spanish wwoofer) I’m now spending a week on the East coast of the Coromandel peninsula; currently in Taiarua then on to Hahei this afternoon.

After a fun week with Marieke, Chris and the children Saskia picked me up from the school prize giving, where I had played the violin along with Samara and Chris, and took me back to Manaia. One of the German Maxes had left and the other one, along with Fernando, had moved into the other bach so I had a bach to myself. 

 After being very excited to finish the painting in Hamilton I was informed that my job for the next few days would be to sand, clean and paint the bach I was staying in! Time went quickly though as I painted along side Saskia with Christmas songs playing in the background.
It's a very different pace of life at Saskia and Jelte's; every morning we all sit out on the veranda with a big bowl of porridge, fresh fruit salad and yoghurt followed by one of Jelte's amazing cappuccinos from his special coffee maker; having to drink instant again at the hostel is like drinking burnt water after these.

 We had many stops for drinks and cake through out the day then lovely relaxed evenings out on the veranda as it was very warm all last week. 
On Thursday evening we had another pizza night, again using their fantastic pizza oven; other than getting eaten by flies it was a perfect evening. Crispy pizza, smooth wine, a brilliant sunset and lovely company.

 On my last couple of days in Manaia we went down to the beach after work for a swim to cool off. The first time we went just down the road to a nice little bay where the surface water was really warm, pretty chilly underneath though!
On Saturday we took wine and nibbles to a lovely hidden beach about 30 minutes North of Jelte and Saskia's place. We swam for a while then relaxed on the sand before heading to Coromandel town for very good fish and chips on the water front.
Once back at the house we had one of Jelte's special desserts; hokey pokey (honeycomb) ice cream with coffee and Frangelico liqueur, yum.

Sunday was my final day with Saskia and Jelte; I had a hostel booked that night in Tairua and they kindly said they'd drive me there so we all made a day of it. 
After croissants for breakfast then finishing cleaning the bach we made our way to New Chums beach; one of the top 20 beaches in the world. To get there you have to walk across a white beach, through a creek then along a little track which opened up to paradise. Golden sands stretched out along side turquoise-blue water with Pohutukawa trees and palms along the back. After much swimming and relaxing we head back to the car where we had left our lunch then drove along to another little beach for my final meal before being dropped off at the hostel.
 I had the most fantastic time wwoofing with both Jelte and Saskia and their family; I leanrt so much from them and had many experiences that I'll never forget.

Family life in Hamilton

 Since my last post I have moved to Hamilton where I'm staying with Saskia and Jelte's daughter, Marieke's family as she needed some help with painting and general housework. This means that since last Wednesday I've been having fun playing with the 3 children; Samara (8), Zachary (6), Kaia (4) and the chocolate Labrador Mila (2).
Before leaving on Tuesday the Two Germans went fishing with Jelte and caught some Snappers which we ate as a starter at dinner. As afternoon tea Saskia and I made some cinnamon swirls which were quickly polished off. For dinner, after the very fresh fish, we had home made pizza made in their pizza oven (shown in the photos); so tasty!

On Wednesday we set off early so that we could drop the boys off at the farm and Saskia could get her hair cut on the way to Hamilton. Finally arrived at around 5pm and I met the family and helped make the side to go with the BBQ.
On Thursday Marieke and Chris had to work and the kids were at school and kindergarden so I was left to clean the house with the company of Mila the dog, it made me laugh when she only responded to my commands when said in a Kiwi accent. 
On Thursdays they have violin lessons at their Grandma's so we all went round and I played some games with the children before family dinner.
We started preparing the house for the mammoth task of painting the window and french door frames on Friday. After making many paper aeroplanes the kids went to school so we sanded and painted all the frames. Time seemed to run away from us so before we knew it we were off picking the kids up again. Was given a true taste of British summer in the form of Pimms to go with my Lasagne then once the kids were in bed we sat back and watched the film 'Interns' whilst munching on chocolate.

Saturday was a long day of much painting with a few breaks for some tasty food such as ANZAC cookies which Samara had made. By the time we'd finished painting for the day we were all too tired to cook so got an Indian takeaway.
It was Marieke and Chris' wedding anniversary on Sunday so Chris' Mum took the children and I for a day out. First stop was Raglan where I helped Kaia painting her mug then we went for a coffee followed by lunch under a classic New Zealand Pohutukawa tree. They took me for a tour of the area before heading back for the santa parade. Another surreal Christmas experience where the kids were loaded up with sugar meaning they were extremely hyper when we returned home. Luckily they reached their sugar low by the time I was babysitting in the evening.
Had another intense day of painting on Monday after going in to school to play the violin along with the school; first time I'd picked up a violin in nearly a year and I was playing in front of 350 kids (all with bare feet); felt nice to play again though.
In the evening I made chicken Cacciatore which we ate on the floor in front of the Christmas tree as an advent treat.
I finally finished the painting today so baked a banana cake and am now having a relaxing afternoon before going back to Saskia and Jelte's tomorrow.

It's been great fun having children around for the week; also helps to make it feel more christmassy. Brings back memories of when I was younger.

The start of WWOOFing

 As I keep telling everyone I'm having a fantastic time here WWOOFing on the Coromandel; wwoofing is where you work for food and accommodation. I'm currently staying with a lovely Dutch couple, Saskia and Jelte, who moved to New Zealand 25 years ago and have since built themselves the most amazing house in the perfect setting. From the lounge window is a view right across the tree covered hills down to the sea; makes for some spectacular sunsets.

 This is the bach which two Germans (both called Max, also both wwoofing) and I are staying in, about 1 minutes walk down the drive from the main house. I get to stay in the double bed with netting as I'm the only girl :)
Below is the kitchen which is a round room full of mod cons such as a boiling water tap; no need to put the kettle on! They also have a great surround sound system controlled from either of their ipads, a robot vacuum cleaner that hoovers by itself and countless other clever little ideas.

 We eat 3 meals together each day whilst hearing some interesting stories from Jelte and Saskia; every morning is porridge and fruit except Sunday when they put on a spread of croissants and fresh little bread rolls accompanied by a cappuccino from their rather professional coffee machine. 
I've mostly been working in the native bush land around their house, weeding and pulling out the bracken which is taking over. Today I got to ride around on the back of the quad bike or sit on top of the pile of bracken on the trailer whilst we moved it around the bush; this was great fun, I felt quite royal being towed along :)

 The two Maxs spent the first week working at the Farm in Thames where Saskia and Jelte's son now lives. They've just finished building a bathroom in the outhouse there. On Friday I went along to have a look then went out for a sushi lunch with Saskia and her daughter, who lives in Hamilton, before picking up a car and returning home for a spot of weeding and fresh fish and chips for dinner. 
Evenings are always very relaxing here with candles around the lounge and music playing on the surround sound. One evening Saskia showed me her wonderful rock collection, a geologists heaven. She's collected some amazing rocks from right across New Zealand, some which I was able to identify for her after my recent petrology course.

 We were allowed the weekend off work as the Germans had been working more than 4 hours a day throughout the week. Saskia and Jelte lent us a car, so on Saturday we head to the classic tourist spots, hot water beach and Cathedral cove. We managed to arrive at hot water beach just in time so we could dig our hole in a spot with some good hotsprings so it was the perfect temperature. A couple from London kept trying to dig themselves a pool but finding it too hot so we let them join us in ours. Was a nice relaxing yet very surreal experience until the tide came in and our hole got swallowed up. 
We then moved on to Cathedral Cove, made famous in the second Narnia movie, where we lay out in the sun for a while before cooling off in the sea, exploring the caves and jumping off the rocks. Took in a few good views on the way home where we were greeted by a lovely meal from Saskia. 

 After our big breakfast on Sunday the two Max's and I went for a walk (or should I say scramble) up castle rock. Once we got to the top of the extremely steep path, which I practically had to run up as my legs are much shorter than the Germans', we were greeted by the most fantastic 360 degree view, some of which is shown to the left. After heading down we cooled of in Waiau waterfall where we saw a cool halo like rainbow around the intense sun. Went for a walk around yet another Kauri grove then stopped off at a honey shop for Max to buy some of New Zealand's famous Manuka honey. Here the woman told us about a 'nice little track' to a waterfall. We set of along this 'track' and soon found ourselves wading through the river and beating our way through the bush attaining countless cuts on my legs from the grass. It was all worth it though when we reaches the waterfall. It had two falls with a jacuzzi like pool (but colder) at the top of the second one. Jumping off the top of the waterfall (after much depth checking) was excellent. 
Finally we head home where we cooked ourselves a meal as Saskia and Jelte were at their grandchildren's violin recital. Made a flowery salad and bolognese which we ate with the spectacular back drop of the sunset pictured to the left.

As you can probably see I'm loving it here on the Coromandel with lovely people and awesome surroundings, looking forward to what the next couple of weeks here have in store!