Canoodling in Coramandel

WE awoke with one simple though domintating our consciences. Was it the tought of picking up our van and starting our adventure around New Zealand? No. Was it loved ones at home reading this blog? Sadly no. Was it the smell of prepackaged blueberyy muffins? You betcha yeah. When you survive on a staple diet of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with dinners usually being soup, the though of nice processed and sweetened muffins beginning your day is almost unbearingly delicious. We almost couldn't fall asleeep last nigt with the though of muffins dancing in our heads, like little children on Christmas Eve.

Sadly the high had to end as we called our taxi to take us to Wicked to pick up our van. The Wicked corporation has a "Wicked" sense of humor: If we showed up naked they would wave a day of payment. We are cheap, but we are also sheepishly modest. Vans are spray-painted with clever little sayings and pictures likes "I pee in the shower" etc. Our van, Jaquline, has a sports car painted on it (so it shares the wheels and everything else is black, thus giving the illusion of actually being one).

WE took off for the Coramandel Peninsula driving within the speed limits and with both seatbelts on (for the mothers and Mitch, I know how he worries about us). For the first day we went to the Pinnacles to hike. It was a lovely jaunt through the rainforest following a mountain stream. We ate PB&J's.

After the hike there was only time to find a place to camp in the bitter cold. We made our traditional soup and bread dinner and sipped on White Russians to warm the soul. Sleeping was a little interesting the first night, as two grown men manuevered around each other - trying to achieve to different goals. A) Huddling to stay warm and B) struggling to find room to stretch out our 6'4" frames in the back of a small van. Morning came and so did eggs, toast, and tea. We began our travels around the backside of the peninsula.

It was not long before Nick piped up and said "Jer, our car smells like Baileys." Sure enough the bottle of Baileys we had broke during one of the sharp mountanous turns. Should we blame Jer for his aggressive driving? No. Should we blame Nick for his subpar packing of our only protection from the cold? No. We blame New Zealand, you dirty curvy bastard! Jaquline, Jer and Nick all said a eulogy that we gave on the Roadside. There were tears, but don't worry too much about us - we have a spare bottle (godbless Duty-Free deals!).

We also visited Cathedral Cove - words do nothing here so google image it maybe. Long story short -we got quite wet and our feet hurt after the trail which we chose to do barefoot. We are now in Rotorua, waiting to go white-water rafting tomorrow. It'll be a chilly one!

Take Care (Jer),
Much Love (Nick),
Over and Out (Jaquiline),