Feeling a lot better after a few days 'living it up' in motels we set off on quite a long drive. Although we didn't cover a huge amount of distance we were driving most of the day. We headed first of all towards Mount Maunganui, which is a 232m high rocky mountain. It is also home to a lovely beach, which was buzzing with people today - it seemed they had some kind of swimming competition on.

We headed in the direction of the Coromandel Peninsula. This was a lovely drive through some great countryside once again - there seems to be no end to it! We stopped briefly in Waihi for a bit of lunch and a quick look at the open gold mine and tower they have here. Then it was onwards around the peninsula. Another brief stop in Tairua at the lovely Mary Beach Reserve. It was really peaceful and seemed a fantastic little place.

A little further on lead us to a great lookout from the peninsula out towards the Alderman Islands and across the ocean. It was a beautiful lookout, only just topped by the lookout a little further on at Cathedral Cove. After seeing very little traffic for miles we suddenly realised that they were all parked up here! It was packed! This was a great spot, and also with a lovely beach below, which is where most of the people seemed to be. There were Hot Beach and Cooks Beach also in this area, and there was a little reminder of Australia around here with all the sun, sea and sand.

We were debating whether to make it up as far as Auckland today, but we began to feel very tired with all the travelling and found a nice campsite in Coromadel Town. It's our first night in the van for a few days so I hope we'll sleep well. We can make it up to Auckland tomorrow and explore the very north area of the island.