I went on holiday with three girls.
My third week in My New Favourite Country heralded yet another holiday adventure - a road trip around the north island with Nat and Caroline and their Kiwi friend Sasha. I was getting Hank withdrawal symptoms, so we rented an extremely cheap and dull estate car to get us around. (By the way, I forgot to tell you that I sold Hank to my good mate Ed in Sydney, and it seems that Ed and Ronnie love the beige beauty just as much as I did.)
Off we set on our week of adventure in the white yawnmobile, but any reservations about the choice of voiture were quickly erased by the incredible scenery in the first part of our hol, the Coromandel, a stunning peninsula surrounded by crystal clear waters (just like the Wirral then...). Our first night was spent in Thames (wonder where they got that name from), a town that was even duller than our car and that closed at about 9pm. We did find a decent Thai restaurant with some of my favourite Asian beers in though.
Next day we went round the top of the peninsula to Whitianga (pronounced Fitty-anger), where there is slightly more to do. I suppose its the peninsular equivalent to Birkenhead really (pronounced Dump). Just as well there is more to do here, as this was the start of Nat's Birthday Weekend. Disappointed with the temperature of the sea water in NZ, you can imagine my joy at visiting the intriguingly-named Hot Water Beach. Like the title suggests, there is actually hot water here. There's some kind of natural thermal activity going on underground (New Zealand is big on this stuff), so if you get there at the right time of day, you just dig a hole in the sand, let it fill with sea water and luxuriate in hot water as the thermal thing does the business. Really weird feeling, and as with so many other experiences on my adventures, totally new to me. I'll be happy to replicate it for you on New Brighton beach with a travel kettle if you like.
After a couple of nights in a really great hostel (like just about all of them in this country), and plenty of sea kayaking in the beautiful Horseshoe Bay, we did something else I've never done before - horse riding. You may scoff at this, but I bet loads of blokes like me have never tried it (it seems a bit girly when you're a kid I think). Anyway, I quickly realised that it wasn't girly as my horse and I went bounding off into the countryside.
Despite being grossly uncomfortable at anything faster than standing-still pace, I soon got to grips with the basics and felt a deep level of communication between myself and my trusty steed, and spent two fantasic hours roaming around the incredible countryside - imagine the English Lake District but bigger and hotter and you'll get the idea.
Part two coming up after this break.
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