The Coromandel.

Just when it was starting to feel like strawberries and cream every day, New Zealand throws us some chocolates and champagne in the form of The Coromandel peninsula. Whitianga is a great place to use as a base for this area. It has supermarkets, bars, restaurants a nice beach and a harbour. The people are friendly and its lively bars are full of characters. We had a few drinks with two guys called Maurice and Murray who kept giving the patroling police sergeant finger signs and calling him dad even though they were in their 60's. Consequently we were given closer attention from the bobby and his 2 constables. Maurice recounted a number of his life stories most of which couldn't be reproduced here but as he told them he would often stop at certain points and say "Its not about Maurice Muir, Phil, Barb or Murray...its about family". This philosophy was constantly updated at various points where "family" was changed to things such as "quality of life", "hard work". "Enjoyment" and as the evening continued and Maurice consumed more Speights ale his final philosophy was amended to "Its not about Maurice, Phil, Barb or Murray...its about getting pissed". I also have to thank Maurice for telling me what SPEIGHTS stands for...Some People Enjoy It Geoff Hates The Stuff. He was then left speechless when I told him I had  a mate called Geoff Speight!
So all in all we had one of our best weeks here, the appartment was spot on, we had some of the best beaches we'd ever visited within 20 - 30 minutes of Whitianga and we had great pubs and restaurants...we can't wait to return.