Here I am - back in the city!

What did actually happen since I posted my last entry? That was in Coromandel on a fancy Top 10 campground. Well, yesterday we took the SH 25 to Whitianga and stopped in Whangapoua to see New Chums Beach - which was announced to be one of the Top 3 beaches in the world on the noticeboard in Coromandel. Obviously just to deceive everyone as we couldn't find any information like this on the internet when checking it here in Auckland. But still New Chums Beach turned out to be very nice - only accessable by climbing over some rocks and walking through the forest for forty-some minutes, with very white sand and some surprisingly high waves (especially surprising when you just enjoy a walk along the beach with your feet in the flat water). We met some other travellers, spend some time at the beach with them, climbed a very steep mountain on our way back and luckily survived the climb down. Back at the car I had a double chocolate caramel icecream (my first and probably last this week) and we continued to Hot Water Beach.

Perfect timing as the next possibility to dig some hot pools would be one hour later. My Top 10 membership card allowed us to rent a spade for free, which was far less funny than buying one and creating various business ideas what to do with it after leaving Hot Water Beach. I just wanted to write "I don't like spades anyway", but as this could lead to missunderstandings (I very much like my partner to open one or more spades for example): I don't like spades to dig holes on Hot Water Beach anyway - it's much nicer just to dig with your hands and get muddy over and over.

Hot Water Beach is one big deception anyway. I mean, on the photos you see some happy people relaxing in nicely digged hot pools, maybe even enjoying a beer. The reality looks a bit different. Masses of people running around, digging everywhere just to find no hot water at all in most places. Then some of them discover the hot spots and start to dig holes. Everybody is following, crowding at one spot and screaming, because the hot water is really very hot or because a wave is coming and destroying everything. There is definitly no chance to enjoy a beer or some better drink. But as it can be rather funny to fail so hard, everybody recommends Hot Water Beach to his friends and it doesn't matter at all. That's my theory.

As we stayed at a Top 10 campground again (remember: these are the best ones) AND knew it before, we cooked a very nice dinner with rice, vegetables and a thai-style coconut-curry sauce. Really good after having lots of pasta with tomato sauce and soup on the other roadtrip-days. Afterwards we had lots of chocolate, tea, wine and WIFI.

This morning it rained and we spend some hours with our computers and had scambled eggs (finally) for breakfast. Then it stopped raining and we went to see Cathedral Cove. As we didn't trust the weather and had seen most of Coromandel Peninsula, we decided to go back to Auckland today instead of tomorrow. So here I am now, back with the Jacobs for some days and very happy about it. Lying in a real bed without mosquitos, applying for real jobs and taking advantage of the infinite power for my notebook.

The only really stupid thing that happened was that I broke my camera. Actually it was very safe in the pocket of my shorts when I slipped and fell in a cold pool at Hot Water Beach. It became only a little wet, but hasn't worked afterwards - I'll try to fix it, but have my doubts. The good thing is: I have used it for about three years before this happened. The one before I managed to lose after a few weeks. The funny thing is: Only two days before I was climbing a very steep cliff with the camera in my pocket and thought: Hm, it might fall out, maybe it wasn't such a good idea to take it - but if it does, I will take it as a sign and buy a good one (reflex camera). Well, it survived the cliff but not the beach, so the sign may still be valid. Raffael told me already that it was a self fulfilling prophecy, but no - I didn't fall into the pool on purpose.

What have I learned today?

- Being on the other side of the world can make you feel really lonely. Having a place to come to, with people who care about you, can be very, very comforting.

- Unfortunatly the weather has really a remarkable influence on the fun you have while camping and sleeping in a car. Yes, it was better in a caravan. But actually not that much, because we could use the heater only on a good campground and there they usually have a place to sit (like a TV-room) anyway.

- Cathedral Cove must be really nice in the sun. I wonder if I will ever find out.