The final New Zealand Post

From National Village I headed to Rotorua, home of many indigenous Maori people, the Whakarewarewa Valley, geysers and heaps of bubbling thermal mud pools!

It rained for most of my time in Rotorua and the air smelled of rotting eggs so with only a little over a week left in New Zealand it was time to move along....

Originally, I wanted to finish New Zealand at Cape Reinga, the Northern most point of the country and the spot where the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific Ocean but time was running out and I was losing steam.  So I settled on a shorter trip to the beautiful Coromandel Peninsula.

I landed in the town of Whatianga after a long and winding trip along the coast line. I found a cute little backpacker right on the beach with dorm beds and great views.

Woke up early the next morning, rented a bike and headed out for the 14 km ride to Haihi for Cathedral Cove and Hot Water Beach.  It was a quick ride to the end of town where I loaded up the bike for a short ferry ride across the canal to the peninsula.  I rode a few miles up hill until my chain fell off and I had to pull to the side of the two lane road to get the sludge filled chain back on.  It was too far to go back now so I started back up for about a mile until it fell off again and at this point I  knew this day wasn't going to be pretty.  I could hear some construction noises nearby so I walked my bike down the road and across a field  to some Kiwis working on a little house.  After hearing my story, one of the guys said it was my lucky day, he was a professional rider and flipped by bike on its seat and begun spinning the wheels.  He worked on the bike for a good 15 mins., taught me how to work the chains, cleaned up my hands, adjusted my seat and told me I couldn't use the easy gears up the hills if I wanted to make it anywhere before dark.  So he sent me on my way, with the hardest bike ride of my entire life- straight up, in one gear!  I channeled my dad, Iron Man Mike that day and together we made it to Cathedral Cove and back with time to spare!

Cathedral Cove

Monkey Puzzle Tree!

Decided to just enjoy the Coromandel for my last few nights in NZ and relax.  Decided this before I looked into extending my stay at the backpacker and to my surprise found that everything in the town was booked for that weekend (speedboat racing exhibition was in town), I think at this point I was giving off that, I'm not putting on my backpack again vibe, cause they offered me a little spot of grass in the front yard to set up a tent.....SOLD. 

Was on the side of the road at 4:45am a few days later for my bus ride into the capital city of Auckland and was soon saying my goodbyes to my adventures in Middle Earth.