Swimming, Summer, Sand

Just when I thought New Zealand couldn't get any more wonderful or beautiful, it outdoes itself, again.

Have I mentioned I love it here?

Except for the driving in gale force winds thing.. that's not so fun. I like driving when I feel like the wind is going to throw me off the road... or off a cliff.

After being on the east coast yesterday (stunning), I drove a little more north to the Coromandel Peninsula. Wow, wow, wow. The water is a light blue and is incredible. And the cliffs and hills and sheep and waterfalls and trees are great.

Went for a walk to see some Kauri trees (one of the world's largest trees... and it grows straight too) and they were amazing. So majestic. As I was walking, you could hear gusts of wind and I was worried about things falling on my head... just then a bunch of palm branches fell about a metre away from me. haha.. I thought for a moment about the gigantic Kauri trees falling on me but thankfully they decided to stay nicely rooted.

Went to some beautiful waterfalls too. The rough thing is they had the PERFECT swimming hole right in front of them.. but it was kind of chilly out and almost getting dark, so I decided to save it for another day. I definitely have to come back here during the summer.

On my drive back to the place where I'm staying, I saw the most incredible sunset. A myriad of colours shining brilliantly over the mountains and glimmering on the ocean, with storm clouds in the distance intermingled with patches of blue sky.

The place I'm staying is awesome. Probably my favorite place so far. And it has a perfect view of the ocean!! And the best part is that they have a year-round outdoor heated pool (everyone else's pools are closed in winter..) so tonight I'm going to go swim laps! Can't wait!

Tomorrow I'm going to go hike to Cathedral Cove (if you see advertisements/trailers for Prince Caspian-Chronicles of Narnia, it was filmed here!) and then I will go to Hot Water Beach to dig some pools for myself to relax in while the tide comes in (was going to do that today but missed low tide).

Off for some swimming and enjoying the sky! I didn't think I could fall more in love with this country but every day I do. I'm very sad to be leaving it the day after tomorrow. :( But I will be back one day!!

Enjoy your day!