The Beauty of the Coromandel

The pictures/videos of the three posts below are all made on a 3 days trip on the Coromandel Peninsula. They roughly reflect a course starting from Thames driving up along the West coast via Coromandel up to the Nothern tip (Fletcher Bay), then, again via Coromandel, to Whangapoua/New Chums Beach, then to Hahei/Cathedral Cove, then down to Whitianga and finally back to Thames (via Tairua).
This trip I did with Elena alone, our kids having their own fun at two Christian camps.
The week before we had three days as a whole family in Rotorua, where we had rented a batch. I didn't make any photos there, as it is not very close to our place and I didn't want to feel absorbed by making quality pictures. There are plenty of them in coffeetable books or on the Internet.
Rotorua is about two hours drive South from Thames. It is situated at a big lake and is famous for the geothermal activity going on there with hot pools and geysers. The region is marked by a strong Maori tradition and influence.
What we did in Rotorua: we admired a beautiful park with hot ponds and hot muddy holes (for free), had dinner in nice restaurants, visited Whakarewarewa, „the termal village“ where Maori inhabitants use the natural heat of the geothermal activity for bathing and cooking, and perform dances for the numerous tourists (not for free), we took a bath in a hot creek flowing through a forest (again for free!), and learned much about the indigenous birds, particularly the Kiwis, of New Zealand, at Rainbow Springs Park. We where able to observe real Kiwis (the birds) at night (the human Kiwis tend to retreat to their homes and go to bed when the birds get up: the birds are nocturnal, the human Kiwis are almost strictly day-active, much to Elena's regret).
We did not do the Zorb (running down the hill in a huge plastic ball, a crazy Kiwi invention).
We made many new acquaintances during the last weeks, partly Kiwis, partly Europeans. Maori people remain still strange to us: it will take a while to really unterstand their ways and customs, if it is possible at all.