November 5 and 6 I went on a tour of Coromandel. It is a peninsula 3 hours southeast of the city. Saturday, we went on a train ride on a tiny train in the middle of the woods. We took pictures from EYEFULL tower, what a clever name. We went to the Coromandel township and saw the entire town in 3 minutes. When we got to the hostel in Whaitangi, it was cold and cloudy. Some of the group webt bone carving, while the rest of the group was provided endless entertainment by four brave souls. It started when Lara and Corinne decided that they would brave the tough weather and go kayaking. They put their pants on, grabbed their bottles of wine, and set forth with their kayaks. What they didn't plan on was the 3 foot surf. We watched from the beach as the pair struggled to make it into the bay without becoming drenched with water. Soon, they were on their way and the laughs were over. Until Rachel and Emily decided they'd have a go. Priceless. That is the only word to describe their experience. They decided they would kayak together in a double kayak. It took them three minutes to figure out how to get in the kayak and only 10 seconds to tip over. I felt like mom as I walked out to them, held the kayak their kayak as they got in, and shoved them off. Instead of going straight through the waves, they decided to kayak parallel to the oncoming waves. They made it past with extreme difficulty. All seemed to be well and we settled back to reading our books when I looked at the perfect moment to see the double kayak flip over in calm waters. Luckily Corinne and Lara were able to help Rachel and Emily back in their kayaks without losing any Ray Bans. Rachel and Emily, and Corinne, and Lara decided that it was time to come in so we sat on the beach making bets to see who would tip over first. Naturally everyone bet on Emily and Rachel and were not disappointed. Lara immediately followed, and Corinne, even though she almost made it joined the other swimmers. We were all in hysterics, and not just the other kids from HWS but the rest of the 40 people on the beach.
That night I celebrated my first Guy Fawkes Day. Similar to the Fourth of July, everyone flocked to the beach for fireworks and were gone 30 seconds after the show was over. Whaitangi is a summer destination, their population in the winter is roughly 4,000 but during the summer it reaches 50,000.
Sunday I went to the Hot Spring Beach. At low tide, you can dig a hole in the sand and hot (sometimes scalding hot) water from below the beach will fill the hole. Heaven must be like laying on that beach.
Then we went sea kayaking to Cathedral Cove. Cathedral Cove is located in Mercury Bay. It's named Mercury Bay because James Cook went there on his first expedition, and with the help of an astrologist, they were able to locate New Zealand on a map using Mercury. Seeing the coves and the sea walls from the water was breathtaking.
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