Coromandel

This past week has been pretty amazing. We went to the Coromanel and stayed in a youth hostel in Opoutere. The hostel was so nice! The room I stayed in fit 12 of us and had a fireplace, obviously we didn’t need it but it was cool. We basically took over the place and I kind of feel bad for the other people that were there but hopefully we weren’t too unbearable. We spent the week mapping or learning how to map (I still need to do my map). We kayaked several times which was SO much fun. I love kayaking. It was gorgeous and we had to intentionally tip ourselves over and awkwardly climb back into the kayaks like uncoordinated seals. It was hysterical.

The days were long but most of it was enjoyable which is good. Opoutere is gorgeous and we all wished that Ecoquest was where the hostel was; although, we definitely don’t have anything to complain about here. :) You know your professors/instructors are awesome when they hide in the bushes at night to scare the crap out of you going to the beach. I probably woke up the entire Coromandel with my scream.

The stars here are so amazing. I can’t put into words how beautiful they are. Stars at Shoals were incredible but somehow not even comparable to what we saw at the beach. There are absolutely no lights anywhere and you can see the entire sky and for some reason the moon wasn’t visible or out. We have come to the conclusion that New Zealand doesn’t have a moon. ;) I have never seen the Milky Way this many times in a row. I really wish I could take pictures of the stars, tends not to work though.

We had this weekend off and a most of us went to beaches the whole weekend. Friday night we went to a hot water beach in Haihei. It was unbelievable. We literally dug a foot or two into the sand and steaming water came through. It was like a bath. It was by far the coolest beach ever.

Cathedral Cove, on the other hand, is the most beautiful beach ever. I didn’t realize that they filmed the second Narnia there and, by association, I have now been to Narnia. It was a beautiful day, couldn’t ask for better and it wasn’t even that crowded. It’s amazing how some of the main tourist attractions here really aren’t regulated as they would be in the US. For example, if Cathedral Cove was in the US, 50% of it would be blocked off and inaccessible to the public, buoys would restrict you from where to swim, it would cost an arm and a leg just to get access to the beach and you definitely wouldn’t be able to climb on the rock-like islands and dive/jump off of them. I absolutely love my underwater camera, I swam with some fishies and got some really cool pictures. :)

The next day we went to what was supposedly one of the top 10 most beautiful beaches in the world, New Chums. Don’t get me wrong, it was beautiful, but we all thought Cathedral Cove was much better. New Chums was secluded and was awesome that no one was there. It was also overcast, sprinkling and really windy which may have taken a bit away from it.

The weekend was great but we are now back at Ecoquest and getting ready for more classes and such this week. It’s been proving difficult for me to get into the school mode here. It feels like summer camp or vacation and is unnatural to do work. Hopefully I’ll get into the swing of things soon.











Fun Fact
Public toilets here talk to you and have elevator music.