So after realizing that housewifing isn’t my dream (at least not in the situation I was in at my WWOOF stay) I decided to put all my Women’s Studies knowledge to good use and emancipate myself by leaving early and heading out into the Coromandel.
I took the intercity bus up to Whitianga. The route was quite windy and I felt a bit sick but the bus driver was very nice and appeased to all the tourists by giving us ample breaks for photographs. There was also an adorable elderly local couple in the van who gave us a rundown of all the local gossip.
I stayed at The Cat’s Pyjamas which was an adorable and cozy backpackers on the main drag with incredibly nice staff and backpackers. I immediately felt at home and after a three hour nap met these two blokes who I then hung out with for the next two days I was there. On my first full day I got a ride with a french woman who was staying at the backpackers up to hotwater beach. At low tide everyone comes and digs holes in the sand, and then you get a little natural spa. The sand is quite hot, at times it can burn your feet, and then the pits heat up the sea water that gets in them. It was a really cool and unique experience. After hot water beach we checked out Haehi beach, another breathtakingly beautiful landscape.
That night at the hostel we watched Good Will Hunting which actually made me really homesick for Cambridge, which I suppose is a good thing since I am returning so soon.
My second full day I set out with the two guys again on foot. We walked up to Shakespear’s Cliff, which is a beautiful green field at the top of about a 15 minute incline where you can see huge landmasses jutting out of the beautiful blue water. After we walked along Cook’s beach where we ran into two other guys from our hostel who were with car and heading to Cathedral Cove. We caught a ride with them and walked the 40 minute track down to Cathedral cove, a beautiful bay with a huge rock tunnel, and large mounds of sand. Apparently this was one of the locations of the Narnia movie. Regardless, it was breathtaking. After we went to hot water beach again and had a paddle in the water.
My entire weekend in Whitianga was perfect weather, which was great because I got a lot of beach time in. Today I travel from Whitianga to Wellington via two buses and an airplane. Appropriately it is overcast and drizzling. I get into Wellington tonight and have less than 24 hours to wrap up all my loose ends and get on my plane to come back stateside. I can’t really process that I’m leaving New Zealand much less the fact that I’ll be arriving back home. But I am very satisfied with my time here and am so pleased with everything I’ve done. I will try to enjoy my final hours here as much as possible, but am also extremely excited to see everyone and everything waiting for me on the other side of this trip.
