I'd planned on having a lazy day today - I am on holiday after all! However when Andys alarm went off at 7.30 the sun was shining so I decided to head off to the coast

I drove along straight roads surrounded by fields pretty much until I hit the corrandal forest. Here the roads started to twist and went through tropical forests. It might have been like this in the Caitlins but it was dark and raining then. Today it was sunny and bright and was a nice drive.

My first stop was hot water beach. Here there is a natural hot spring just below the sand. The beach was pretty empty except for the part where the hot spring is - but least I was able to find it without having to dig holes everywhere - here lots of people had dug holes before me. And the water really was hot - too hot to stand or sit in for any length of time!

Sitting on the beach toasting it actually started to feel like I was on holiday! I stayed there about an hour before driving into cathedral cove. Unfortunately the car park was full (this was the first time I've ever had problems parking). So I drove back into hahai and walked along the beach which was almost empty. There was another rope swing so I had a go on that too before heading back to the car & driving back up to the cathedral cove car park. This time I was able to park and then walk the 45minute track down to the cove. Cathedral cove is two small bays, between them is a huge arch which has been eroded through, it was very pretty with white sand, clear blue sea and views out across to small islands.

As I walked back up the track (it was a lot easier going down to the cove!) I could sea the rain coming in from across the valley. After an ice cream on hahai beach I then drove towards whitianga, the next coastal town. I stopped at cooks beach on the way - it was deserted - probably because it was pouring with rain by this point! And it was now back to the holiday I had become accustomed to in the South Island. I decided not to go up to whitianga but to drive down to whangamata and wiahi. The road was slow and whinding up over the mountains again and it was getting dark by the time I got to whangamata, and was pitch black by the time I got to wiahi.

I have no idea what the scenery was like as I drove home, i could have been surrounded by open fields or mountains as it was pitch black most of the way!

Ps if you're wondering why I've not posted much the last few days the off exploring app is still playing up. My blog posts seem to be visible but everytime I try and upload a photo it seems to crash and I have to delete it and download it again!