NZ part 3 – Oysters for brunch and Middle Earth for lunch
Rising out of bed nice and early we were able to catch the cool morning dew at Mt Eden on our way out of Auckland. Without a map, and a rather stupid GPS, we found ourselves semi-lost at the base of the mound, not knowing which road to take up to the peak. After 10-15 minutes of poking our heads into random streets we eventually found ourselves on a meandering single lane road up to the views of volcanic cones encircling the cityscape of Auckland.
Miss JH being cheeky, poking her head into this shot. Lucky her head wasn’t big enough to obstruct my views of the cityscape, haha.
Right: Rocky inland-side of Coromandel peninsular.
Left: I wonder what my fascination with lone chairs /benches are? Looking through my photo reel, I have intentionally taken at least 4-5…
After a somewhat long-ish drive, we pitstop at Coromandel Oyster Company … for some oysters of course.
Oysters – aren’t they just georgeously plump. Yes, they were very fresh, but we were a tad grossed out without the acidity of lemon to cut through the alkalinity – I know how sad. Anyone eat oysters without lemon?
They did have spicy kiwi sauce, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper, but how can you go without lemon / lime??? Sighs.
Next stop: Hot Water Beach. An underground river from deep beneath the earth provides a steady stream of heated water which surfaces at Hot Water Beach – on the east coast of Coromandel peninsular. 2 hours either side of low tide, one can dig your own thermal spa ON THE BEACH!
After hiring a couple of shovels from the surf shop and a short walk down the sandy beach towards a rocky outcrop, we find ourselves amongst others equipped and marking territory in eager wait for the tide to go down. Simply standing in the warm shallow water, wriggling your toes in the sand you can already feel the heat permeating up – and by heat I mean REALLY HOT! Once the water level is low enough, everyone starts digging huge bathing spas (aka holes). We lie back and lap up the warmth and steam that envelops us.
The long awaited journey through the green pastures of Hobbiton, Middle Earth. (P.S. re title: we didn’t actually have lunch at Hobbiton – just thought it would rhyme better)
A final shot of the Hobbiton bus – before we step into confidentiality-bound territory. Sorry to get your hopes up folks, you will have to wait until The Hobbits is out before you can see the rest of the photos =P. See below for the contractual agreement…
To compensate here are some cute cute sheep / lamb…
They were so hungry!
Look closely – anything peculiar?
And finally a quick reel of quite literally pictures-on-the-go…
As the lush green whirred to a blur…
… came a bit of car-sickness. We can’t have been driving too fast, could we? =P
Stay tuned for more from NZ!
See also: NZ part 1 – Around Auckland, part 2 – Crystal Harbour Restaurant.
Almost Always Ravenous 
No lemons? Ah, those gastronomically unerudite Kiwis ;). Those scallops from the last post looked scrumptious.
it’s a pity, they normally do have lemons i think, and they had one SOFT-ish one left, which we would’ve actually happily taken, but they said it was OFF. LOL
I could relate to the car sickness- I’m terrible at long drives sometimes! Worse in boats.
Love the photos and the beachy thermal spa! And the oysters….wah
LOLZ. dad doesn’t brake much around corners, neither do i. so a bit of G-Force!! haha.
you should take some anti-histamine (the drowsy type) for car/sea sickness =), it helps for some ppl.