Mud bath morning!

We started the day with a plan to travel to Corumandel, we did not get there. Fun time is limited on moving days, NOT TODAY

Firstly we went to a thermal spa, it's basically a hot mud bath and a soak in a hot tub of smelly mineral water, it was refreshing, the cold showers helped.
I suppose it is like taking a bath after a rugby team on a wet Saturday.

Yes, we left Rotorua this morning and headed for Hells gate. The mud bath is an experience we will never forget. Steve has no fear of the possibility that strange things can lurk about under water to get you so he was straight in. Remenber the 'slip tub' in pottery class at school? It was like getting into that! The water was warm milky brown- I was ok with that, but the bottom of the bath was covered in soft clay like mud which freaked me out. I squealed just a little bit- well kind of eh eh eugh and some oh my gods- the woman came to ask if everything was ok? But then I got really into it. I love pottery and clay making.
I hate cold showers. After rinsing off the mud we got to go in a hot spa pool but at 40 degrees after the cold shower I couldn't stand it for long. Steve stayed in and I went off to shower- cold again! Still, felt fab afterwards.

We travelled to the coast and ate lunch (very nice) at Te Puke, the claim is that it is dominating the world of kiwi growing,
it has a 5m dia kiwi slice, as a monument to the industry on the main highway.(it's a traddition for sculptures of large veg in small towns, a large carrot being the most impressive so far)

We decided to stop at the town of whangamata, we found a nice motel suggested by the i office person

Steve-We decided on a late trip to the beach, which was awsome and the sea, I mean ocean ( pacific ) was not cold, so we chased fish.

Sal-We drove up towards coromandel and ended the day (the daytime part) on the beach which was beautiful and a refreshing swim in the sea.Sand gets everywhere- I needed another shower- not cold this time but lovely and hot/warm.

Steve-Finally at 9pm we went out for a drink, also to get some carbs, the place was either shut or closing.
It's a big town but few houses are actually occupied.
Anyway one bar stayed open and cooked for us, so we said we would go back tonight.
The waiter was the same bloke who sorted our motel, it just like a carry on film.

Sal-No wonder those 2 drinks of cider affected me so badly! Todays strange occurrance was that the same lad served us our drinks in the 2nd bar as the information centre when finding somewhere to stay. He got to know alot about us!