It was a long drive down to Coromandel (the township on the Coromandel Peninsular) but Good Old Dad (note the initials!) tackled it like a pro. We stopped off in Rotorua en route, which wasn't half as smelly as we were expecting - we'd been told lots of sulphurous tales - but definitely pretty spectacular, watching geysers erupting over coffee isn't an experience I'll forget in a hurry! The only thing was that the scorching sun combined with the sheer temperature of the mud pools and grounds in general made it rather uncomfortably hot.

After a stunning afternoon drive down the Coromandel Peninsular, we arrived in Coromandel (at an adorable motel where we had our own little cottage). It's very different to the Bay of Islands, far more rugged and wild, and that really demonstrates how varied this country is.

We spent a couple of nights in Coromandel, and one day really exploring the area (even though I slept through a lot of the driving to avoid suffering through some painfully twisty journeys!), including taking the little train at Driving Creek Railway that delivers you to a viewpoint 1500m up, giving you a vista of Coromandel Township, the bay and the surrounding lush forest - breathtaking stuff. Plus the train was great fun, we spent the whole journey giggling about how much James (my nephew) would have loved it - I don't know whether he'd have coped with the excitement! That afternoon another treat was in store as we went exploring to find an allegedly-spectacular beach called New Chums. After a bit of driving around to find somewhere to park, wading across a stream, rock-climbing round the headland and bushwhacking our way through dense palm forest (OK, not that dense, but it sounds better) we arrived at New Chums - and it was worth every single sweaty second, being possible the most beautiful beach I have ever seen on my travels - and that's saying a hell of a lot.

The best was yet to come. As we sat in the shade of a pohutukawa tree, a pod of dolphins came within about 5 metres of the shoreline and played in the waves for about half an hour, playing hide and seek with a couple of kayakers (and consistently winning), jumping out of the water and generally providing us with quite a show. We didn't spend as long as we could have done in Coromandel, but in that one day I think we got a pretty good taster for all the reasons it's such a well-loved place.