Hey, everyone! After leaving Rotorua, I spent the remainder of the week exploring the Bay of Plenty region and Coromandel. I hadn’t really planned out the North Island to the same extent as the South, so at times I’ve been winging it. That can be good, but can also be… not good. Haha. I kind of wish I had a more concrete plan of exactly what I’d like to do. But there were some places/things I had in mind! Read on below.

Whakatāne and Whakaari

When I was in Australia, my brother told me about a documentary called The Volcano: Rescue from Whakaari. It is a pretty brutal documentary that details the accounts of some passengers who were touring on the volcano Whakaari/White Island that then erupted. Twenty-two people died, many more were badly burnt and injured by the steam. Despite the goriness of the film, my brother was pretty taken with how beautiful the volcano looked. While they no longer do boat tours to the volcano, it’s able to be seen from the mainland, 48km off in the distance. I was debating doing a flight around the volcano but they were just too expensive to justify. Instead, I called up my brother, told him about my intention to see the volcano, and then proceeded to do so. I was surprised that amidst the overcast day, I was able to see Whakaari off in the distance. The smoke plume was almost indecipherable against thick cloud, but I could just barely make it out. It was interesting to see it in person, even if from a distance. The town of Whakatāne relied heavily on tourism around Whakaari but it seems that has since died down a lot.

I later was able to see Whakaari from other vantage points – at my campground for the evening and even the next day. At those times, while it was farther away, the smoke plume was even more visible against blue skies. The power of Mother Earth.

That documentary is on Netflix and well worth a watch if you haven’t seen it.

I then drove on to my campground for the evening, where I did yoga, ate food, and relaxed.

Mount Maunganui

I almost ended up staying at the campground another night because I liked it so much. In hindsight, I should have, but alas.

I drove on to Mount Maunganui. Mount Maunganui was first mentioned to me when I was in Hervey Bay, Australia. I was on a whale watching tour and was chatting with one of the guides. We ended up talking about how I was going to Aotearoa New Zealand in a few months. She suggested I go to Mount Maunganui – that I would really like the vibe there. It’s funny how things turn out – it isn’t until nearly the end of my New Zealand stint that I’ve finally been able to check out this place.

It seems people affectionately call the area “The Mount” or just “Mount.” I luckily had a really beautiful day. Blue skies with white clouds painted here and there. The area was pretty busy. It was like a small city or at least a big town. A beach town, too. Lots of people were enjoying the sun, hanging at the beach, walking around eating ice cream, etc. To go from such small towns to places with a busier vibe can be quite jarring for me haha.

I ended up hiking to the summit of Mount Maunganui.

I was prepared for a brutal hike because it seemed like a steep incline. It was fine. I think it took me maybe thirty or forty minutes to get to the top. But the views! I could see Whakaari as well as many other little islands in the distance.

Birds twittered away. There were tui, which isn’t too unusual, but one thing I was surprised to see was… an Australian parrot! The eastern rosella.

I called my nephew and we chatted for a few minutes before he went into the movie theatre to see a new movie. I then descended the mountain and hiked around another nearby area called Leisure Island. It was early afternoon at this point and it seemed I had exhausted all my nature-y options in the area… so I went to check in at my campsite.

This campsite was hands down the WORST paid campsite I’d experienced yet. It was like a parking lot, with cars parked right next to each other. Yuck!

I made some food and read some of Petals on the Wind. In the evening, I drove a few minutes away to go to an AA meeting. This is the first meeting I’ve been to in WEEKS. It actually might be the longest I’ve been away from a meeting since I’ve been sober. It has been difficult because while, yes, there are online meetings, I am often hiking, driving, etc. And when I’m not, I don’t always have the best cell service. And even when I do, I try to conserve my phone battery so it doesn’t die. Excuses, excuses. And in terms of in-person meetings, it seems whenever I arrive in a bigger town and look up meeting schedule, they’re never running on the days I’m in that town. SO it was really nice to go to a meeting again. I’ve been fine, peeps, don’t you worry! But I do like to go to meetings about once a week so that I can find my center. I think this will prove difficult as I travel around Asia. We’ll see. AA is everywhere haha.

Anyway.

There was a strong aurora that had potential to hit Earth. I set an alarm for 4am and then 5am. At 5am, the numbers were looking S T R O N G, as much as the one in May. But of course, it was overcast in Mount Maunganui. Damn. From what little pockets of the night sky that I could see, I wasn’t seeing any of the tall beams that were towering above Mount Cecil in Queenstown. Alas. I am too far away from the south now. I don’t think I’ll be able to see the aurora again in the same way. Maybe when I’m in Alaska one day – or maybe even when I’m home next month!

Hot Water Beach

I originally was going to head to Tauranga after Mount Maunganui but after looking at the map, it seemed like it was basically just… a city. I decided to skip it and instead drive up to Coromandel.

I was keen to get to Hot Water Beach, which was a few hours away. Hot Water Beach isn’t a natural hot spring, but it’s a spot where people dig a hole in the sand two hours on either side of low tide. When they dig the hole, they find hot water. This is because there are two underground fissures – the temperatures from those rise up to the surface when the hole is dug. Crazy.

It was raining along the drive. And the drive was crazy. Sooooo very winding. Left, right, left, right. I was going way too slow for the locals and would pull over whenever there was an opportunity. Luckily, there weren’t too many people on the road. Eventually, I arrived and checked in to my campground. It was a holiday park and boy, was it not for me. It was school holidays at the time, so kids were running around everywhere. CHAOS! But it was nice to have access to a kitchen, warm showers, etc. Facilities that I am often without while traveling around.

Low tide was at 8pm so I rented a spade for $5 and went to the beach around 6pm to start digging. I was surprised to see plenty of people were already there, digging away. And steam was rising up from the water!

The employee at my holiday park told me that I’ll be able to tell where to dig – the sand will be hot under my feet. I found a spot. A few feet away from all the other holes people I had dug, I started digging. And digging. And digging. I was very ambitious, trying to make the hole way too wide. And then at times, despite the tide lowering, the occasional wave would pile into the shallow hole I was digging. At times, I thought the water was warm under my feet but had cooled because of the waves getting in.

I worked on this damn hole for TWO HOURS. I thought at one point, I’d sort of burst a “pocket” of sand, and then it would kind of flood with the hot water. That never happened. I asked a guy who had built a massive hole a few feet away from me, “Yo, what’s the deal? Am I just not in the right spot?” He repeated what the woman had said – that you should dig where it feels hot. Well… it did feel hot to me when it started. At this point, the sun was faded. Apprehensively, I gave up. I returned the spade and my book to my car, defeated. But then I thought – yo, just go in someone else’s. So I went back to the beach and as some people were leaving, I took their spot. It was VERY hot, hotter than the proper hot springs I’d been to near Rotorua. And then, with the tide starting to rise, a massive wave came in and flooded the area with cold water. So… that was that lol.

Despite disliking the busy-ness of the campground, I decided I wanted another day to enjoy the facilities. They have a natural hot tub, a kettle for boiling water for tea, etc.

A place to charge up my devices. So I stayed.

Later in the day, I went to nearby Hahei and Cook’s Beach which had some great views. The area is famous for Cathedral Cove, which was one of the screensavers for Windows a while back… but it is now closed and I didn’t really care about it enough to spend $100 on a boat tour haha.

Waikawau Bay Campground

In the morning, I had another long drive ahead of me. I wanted to hit the road as early as possible as I knew it would be a little over two hours to get to my next campground, further north along the Coromandel peninsula. The roads continued to wind – left, right, left, right.

I made a slight detour to New Chums Beach which is supposedly this really beautiful, secluded and unspoiled beach. I found the parking lot then had to walk a bit of a track to get there. I had to cross through a shallow stream, balance over a bunch of boulders near the water, then walk up a very muddy/slippery track for maybe ten or fifteen minutes. By the time I’d arrived at New Chums Beach, I had a cut on my hand and mud all over my Birkenstocks and feet. Haha. Crazy. I’m sure I would have enjoyed the beach more had it been a warmer day without wind. Instead, I sat for a few minutes to enjoy the scenery, then began the trek back to my car lol.

I stopped for a break in Coromandel Town, preparing myself for what was ahead. I knew that at a certain point, the road turned to my nemesis – gravel. Eventually, I drove along. The gravel didn’t end up being particularly awful but I still just hate, Hate, HATE it. (P.S. whenever I say hate, Hate, HATE, it’s a joke for my friend Jasper because he and I always would say that and he reads these posts. I don’t really hate things as much as I say I do lol. But I do actually hate gravel roads.)

The campground was beautiful and is actually the largest Department of Conservation campsite in all of New Zealand, apparently.

It has a lot of different sections – beachside, powered, and bushside sites. Bushside was closed until summer starts which should be soon! I stayed at the beachside area, tucked away near the trees.

I took a photo of Goldie for my mom since she asked for one haha.

A quick trail through the bush led to the beach. In the evening, I walked along it, looking at the massive collection of seashells that had been stranded on the beach at high tide.

Some of them were really beautiful. The greenish one with what looks like polka dots is I think a sea urchin. Wild!

I did yoga, read a book, and relaxed. There were a few trails in the area, but I was staying at the campground for two nights so I decided to check those out the next day.

In the morning, I had three walks planned. The Tsunami Walk, which was a fifteen minute walk up a hill to a lookout point. I didn’t particularly love this one because there were lots of spiderwebs I had to clear through as I made it to the end of the track. No, thanks!

Later, I went on a walk to a swimming hole. Walking through a forested trail for maybe twenty minutes, I arrived at the spot. The water was cold but very remote. I decided to strip naked and go for a dip. I submerged myself to the waist and then forced myself to dive under. BOY, was it freezing! I imagine on a hot day, it would be excellent, but for the past few days it’s been incredibly windy. I would have loved to just chill at the beach, laying out and catching some sun but the wind makes it unbearable. Damn it! I did dip down into the pool a few more times, though. Then I dried off, put clothes on, and read some more of my book. It is an excellent book. I’ve since finished it and wish I hadn’t.

The last walk ended up being two sites to explore. I went up to a lookout point that had some absolutely gorgeous views of Waikawau Beach and the surrounding area. So unreal! It also looked off to the ocean facing east. I ended up returning for sunset – it wasn’t too challenging of a walk. Beautiful.

I noticed along the way that there was a detour to Little Bay. It started right near the top of the lookout point. Mmmmm, okay!

It was pretty crazy. The track was so slippery but the benefit was that it had a rope tied along trees leading practically all the way to the bottom. At times, I was grasping it with both hands, pushing all my weight against it to keep from slipping.

Little Bay was cute, but similar to New Chums Beach and all beaches lately, it was just too windy to do much of anything. I hid in the shade and looked out to the ocean, hoping for dolphins or whales. Then I returned to my campsite!

Aside from another walk to the lookout point for sunset, I didn’t do too much else. I ate a lot of food, finished my book, and just kinda hung out. In the evening, I went for a night walk to try and see some kiwi. I figured I’d walk back in the direction of the swimming hole, since it seemed like a good spot for kiwi. Along the way, I heard the most TERRIFYING noise. It twisted my stomach and put all my hairs on edge. I figured it was a possum, but I turned on the bright lights on my headtorch to try and spot the source. Yep, a pair of glowing eyes up in a tree. EEK! Later, I looked up possum sounds and confirmed that is what I had heard. So scary! I ended up turning around not long after that because I almost walked directly into a massive spiderweb and felt it was good stopping point. On my way back, a possum literally dropped down from a tree and then took off running lol. Fuckin’ crazy.

I was feeling kind of nervous about the next morning. I had a little over three hours of driving to do and I wasn’t looking forward to doing it on winding roads. I woke up earlier than my alarm, got ready, and started to drive out of the park. One of the other guys in my section kinda waved to me and asked if I’d like a coffee. I was already in my car, driving out, and I don’t drink coffee so I declined, saying I had to hit the road. I could tell he was kinda lonely and wanted to talk, so I indulged him for a few minutes. He asked how I was planning on going back down – will I take the route I came from, or go the different way, which is beautiful but a bit rugged? I said I’ll be taking the route I came from, as I’m worried about my piece of shit car. We said goodbye, and I drove along. It was almost as if he knew, because maybe ten minutes before I was about to be finished with gravel road, I had to pull to a stop. There was a road works person with lights flashing on her car. She mentioned that one of the maintenance trucks had gotten stuck in a ditch and she wasn’t sure how long it would be before the road was open. She suggested I go back the other way.

Had I listened to that man from the get go, I could have saved myself driving another half hour, but how was I to know?

But he was right. The road WAS rugged. Winding and filled with gravel. Goldie started making noises I really was not liking whatsoever. Once I got back on sealed pavement, it seemed to stop. I’m not sure why that would be, but I’m not going to put any more money into this goddamn van lol. To be honest, I was on edge the entire three hours I was driving. I’m afraid Goldie’s time is just about up. I’m so glad I’m now in Hamilton.

Luckily, I don’t have much driving left to do here. In a perfect world, I’d love her to get me to tomorrow night’s campground, which is 15min from the airport. And upon my return from Fiji, I’d love just five more days to go up to the northern tip of the island and then get back down again. Hopefully, she can at least do that for me lol. After that, I’ll sell her. I don’t even really want to sell her to someone online at this point – I’d rather just sell her to a company that buys used cars. Even though I’ll get much less, I just don’t want to fuck someone else over when I feel like she actually does need a lot of work done in the coming months. Sigh.

Anyway. NEXT!

Miscellaneous

Speaking of Goldie – I’ve been living in my car for over a month and JUST discovered a secret compartment. A little too late haha. Plus, I’m afraid if I utilize it, I’m going to forget whatever it is I put in there when I sell the car.

Once my Instagram was returned, I received these photos Renee took of me during my last night in Queenstown. Crying, smiling, laughing. Love these photos!

I’ve also been wanting to get a picture of these weird looking birds for AGES. I saw them once upon a time when I’d first arrived in Queenstown and had no idea what the hell they were. Well, they’re California quail and they’re an introduced game species. They were hanging out at my campsite.

After spending time in hot springs back in Rotorua, I noticed that the minerals actually changed the color of my necklace. So crazy! And later, I noticed that they actually made a wart that I had on my finger go away. Why would that be?! How could that be?!

Art of the Week

Reflections

Since I have had to be a little more mindful of my timing lately due to my upcoming Fiji flight, I have been very aware that my visa is coming to an end. It expires in three days, but I’ll be out of the country in two. Of course, I’ll be back in New Zealand for another month after my time in Fiji, but it still feels quite strange. So much has happened in the past year. Benchmarks like that make me nostalgic, I suppose.

This is such a beautiful country, and what I thought of yesterday was – it’s a country with many faces. It does mountains so well. It does beaches so well. Rolling hills. Rainforests. Farmland. Etc. It just is very, very charming and beautiful. Everywhere!

So, what’s next? Once I finish this blog, I’m going to treat myself to a nice dinner. Tomorrow, I have some errands to run. I have to convert some NZ money to Fijian dollars, buy sunscreen… I also wanted to go to the police station to make sure I don’t somehow have any marks against my name. Because I want to come back for another month, I want to be proactive and make sure there won’t be any issues there (maybe speeding tickets I don’t know about, etc. although I never speed lol). I then drive a little over an hour to my campground, which is 15min from the airport. Probably won’t do much. In the morning, I have to wake up very early to drop off my car and get to the airport. And then… FIJI! Crazy.

I do wish I was going to Fiji under different circumstances. Fiji is quite expensive but I’m not going with the intention to do every tour, spend all the money. I would LIKE to, but I didn’t even plan to go to Fiji. It’s sort of just necessary so I can have that one more month in New Zealand. So, I’ll probably just chill out on the beach, get a tan, go swimming. I do have two tours I want to go on, but other than that, it’s just a means to an end. Anyway.

Until next time – sending you all my love. x