Land of the Kiwis A runner in New Zealand

Coromandel Trip

Please humor the lack of catchy prose in this post, as I'm writing it way too late to remember specifics...

AC/DC mansion

Today was my last day of real honest-to-goodness tourism. Ian rounded up the troops and hustled us into the car for our big trip to the Coromandel Peninsula (but not before I got in a quick 50min run @~5:45 pace and a good strength routine). We were not 10min down the road when he showed us to our first attraction: The mansion of AC/DC. The place was quite impressive, one of the most expensive I've seen in NZ thus far (though I know others are out there. Shania Twain owns a huge ranch somewhere on the south island I believe). 10min in and we're already getting treated.

Eventually, after a delicious hill-top picnic of turkey sandwiches Ian and Jane put together, we arrived at our destination for the day: Pauanui beach in the heart of the Coromandel. The town of Pauanui is known as "rich man's playground" and with Yhats anchored outside houses in man-made canals, I began to believe the hype. The beach itself was unremarkable but had system of really cool sandbars that were fun to play in during high tide. We sunbathed 'til 4 and some of us even fell asleep in the slight breeze. It was incredibly relaxing.

On the way back we stopped at the main beach to change (about a mile down the way) and were pleasantly surprised by a series of brightly painted cars hawking their wares for free. At the time we were there, the only item up for grabs was spicy chicken chips. I had a few, and could see the appeal, but my mouth burned and I quickly turned to the support of the other free handout: water.

L&P and an ice cream. Can life get any better? I wager that it cannot!

On the way out of town we dropped by this amazing gated retirement community built around a golf course. I think it must have sprung up in the last decade as everything was very new. Ian said the location was a possible landing zone once he decided to settle down permanently. I didn't see any reason not to.

The final attraction of the day was a giant monument to NZ's most popular home-brewed cola: affectionately referred to as L&P. We all took our seat at the base of the monolith and I may have been too lazy to move for Jane's turn...

And with that, we arrived safe and sound back at Ian's. Now, it's pathetic, but I cannot for the life of me remember what we had for dinner that night, but you can bet your sweet buns it was something amazing and crafted in the capable hands of Ian Carter.