Coromandel

The next day it was constantly raining, so I drove very long to the corimandel peninsula.
One one city happened an oldtimer meeting, I saw so many old and funny cars, even some convertibles without roof with very wet drivers.

The corimandel peninsula is very scenic with nice bays and beaches.



These mangroves looked beautiful in the sun.



And working on this farm with that landscape could be nice, too.



On this campground I did a short coastal walk and talked with a Kiwi, who comes here every year since 25 years for 10 days fishing camping and drinking. The trees at the shore are very beautiful.



On my way back I drove fast on a gravel road and tested the 4WD capabilities of my car. Unfortunately it was toooo fast and I ruined my second tyre.



So far: 3 different cars, 4 times calling the AA Service, one dead battery, one dead car at the offroad-parc, two flat tyres.. not bad in this short amount of time.

Rotorua

My next stay was in Rotorua. On my way I stopped at several tyre shops and auto wreckers until I gave up and bought some new tyres. Hopefully I can sell my car for a good price and get the money back.
Rotorua is the fun capital of the north island. Heaps of things to do and lots of oportunities to spend money on "funny" things.
This here is called "Zorb". You are inside a giant ball and you atr rolling downhill. It was invented in New Zealand.



I decided to do a offroad track which was quite nice. You drive through deep water, slide down a steep hill and other things. I had also bad luck with my car, after one stop it wouldn´t start again and I got a new one! In general speaking I am not lucky with cars here in NZ, see my next blog Corimandel.



After that I drove to Whakatana at the coast where I could take a picture of this mermaid at sunset.



I passed several beautiful lakes and geothermic active areas where you could have a mud-bath or swim in hot springs. You could smell this areas, they smell strange.

Many NZ people are not sensible to cold. They are wearing shorts even in the mountains with snow, are walking barfeet when I wear my high and warm boots and still wearing t-shirt when i put on the second layer of fleece. funny... I thought, I am not sensible but these people here are tough.