We Press On...

Yesterday we were back in the north of New Zealand, on the Coromandel Peninsula staying in a little town called Whitianga. And, with a population of just over 3,000 people, I really do mean little. Of course, it's a metropolis in comparison to Waitomo (where we went to the caves), whose population was just 300 people. Before coming here, I had heard that there were more sheep than people in NZ, which seemed like it had to be an exaggeration. Turns out it's not. Rarely have I been in such sparsely populated places, the kind where you can drive for an hour and not see a town or where in a town there might be one place to eat, and it closes at 5 o'clock. But there's also a certain charm to it... unless, of course, you're hungry at 7 o'clock.

Either way, we went there because we'd heard about the spectacular beaches and planned to take full advantage. Too bad the weather had something else in mind for us. Since getting to New Zealand, I don't know that we've had a single day where it hasn't rained. Which has been a huge bummer, because you come to New Zealand for the scenery but, so far, we haven't been able to enjoy much of it. Nor the beach, as it turns out. Sigh.

Regardless, we headed to Cathedral Cove, figuring that even if it was too cold to swim, we could at least enjoy the view. We hiked for about 45 minutes up and down mountains, through the woods and what sometimes felt like a rainforest to get there. There were points when you felt like you were so far back in mountain country that you almost forgot you were next to the beach. And then we emerged and we saw what we had come for: the cove formed thousands of years ago by volcanic activity. Even with the grey skies, the water appeared a beautiful green color... I can only imagine how much more brilliant it would be when seen under sunny skies. We sat for a while, both to enjoy the spectacular view and, admittedly, to put off the inevitable hike back out just a little bit longer.

We then headed over to Hot Water Beach, famed for the natural hot springs that you can access at low tide. Masses of people show up with shovels in hand, ready to dig their own private spa. Sarah and I came geared up, ready to dig our own spot but we got there too early. We had to sit and wait a couple of hours in the on-and-off-again rain and chilly winds until the prime hot water time and, by the the time it came, we were too cold to bear the idea of stripping down to bathing suits to dig a hole in the sand so we sit in a couple inches of hot water and then trudge back to the car soaking wet and freezing. So, like true spoil sports, we watched everyone else do the hard work and lived vicariously.

Today we headed back to Auckland, driving nearly four hours in some of the greyest, bleakest, foggiest, rainiest skies I have seen in quite some time. Definitely not what I was expecting when I thought of being in New Zealand during their summer. It is a shame as bad weather really does affect a trip, both in what you can and (mostly) can't do... as well as mood. We were going to go check out Auckland on foot when we got back but we got a few blocks away and decided the idea of trudging through the pouring rain wasn't nearly as appealing as it had sounded when we hatched the idea back at the hotel. We ended up going to a movie instead. Good movie, but bummer of a way to spend time in NZ, a once-in-a-lifetime destination. I repeat: sigh.