A day at the beach

With our beach wear on and the sun out (in DECEMBER!), we were ready for a day touring the white beaches of the Coromandel.

First stop - the bizarre Hot Water Beach, where with a spade you could dig a pool of hot (in some places scalding!) water and bathe in the warm water.

Hobbiton

The realm of hobbits was hidden from sight, down in its own mini valley of the rolling hills of Matamata.

The view up to Bag End and the kidnapped oak tree (13th Dec 2013)

Smelly Wonderland

Leaving the volcanoes behind us we moved on to see more of the geological phenomena of this region.

Our visit to the Wai-o-tapu Thermal Wonderland certainly was a 18 sq km wonderland...

Starting our visit with Lady Knox Geyser who at 10.15am relieved herself at a height of around 20m lasting a good 20 minutes and was still going as we moved on.

Lady Knox Gesyer at full pelt (12th Dec 2013)

Photo of the week (w/c 9th Dec)

   Kinloch sunset over Lake Taupo (12th Nov 2013)

Mount Doom

Waking up at 5.45am, we were up and ready to take on one of the Great NZ day walks - The Tongariro Crossing.

Unforget-a-bull

Lighting up our 4 hour journey from Wellington to Tongariro we stumbled upon the village of 'Bull' and their clever tourist stopping trick - living out its name right across the place...