Back from the Trip to Hahei

Anisha and I arrived home on Saturday afternoon, after a wonderful four days at Hahei beach.

We went to Hahei on Tuesday 1st January 2008. Jean, Warren, Jackie and her partner David were there when we arrived. Jean made us a dinner that night. Jean and Warren went home after lunch on Wednesday.

When we initially went to Hahei Beach, the water was quite cold, however we did manage to take a bit of a dip. In addition to the obligatory walks, sunbathing, and swims at the beach we went to Cathedral Cove. The car park to the start of the track was full, so we did need to park quite a way down from the entrance.

There are two tracks which we saw which lead to Cathedral Cove which diverge at a certain point on the track. To the cove we took one which was predominantly open air on a well made track. On the way back we took the other route which went through bush on a very roughly created track.

We stayed at the cove for a bit, and I took a number of photos of the area. I showed Anisha the waterfall.

Anisha noticed from a newsletter found in the Bach, that there was a Gala at Cooks Beach reserve. We made our way to the Gala on Friday. At the Gala, there were three groups playing music, of which I watched and recorded on video two of them. One was native American, while the other was "Insert Nationality Here". The second group appeared to be performing music from a CD they were touting to people.

We also noticed the guy we saw at the food show selling his famous slicing machine at this Gala. This guy must get around. This is the third time we have seen him in months! Are we attending too many shows? LOL.

Anisha wanted to see Hot Water Beach so we did a quick drive by.

At the Bach, there appears to be a bird which has built itself a nest on the porch where it is protecting four eggs. When Jean was at the Bach she told me that she had been feeding it bread. The bird would fly away whenever someone would open the door to leave the Bach, or indeed if they come up the stairs as well.

One night we made homemade Pizza. I topped mine off with some left over sausages from the night before. At night, Anisha and I would watch episodes of Magnum P.I and Without a Trace. I had previously got a whole season of Magnum P.I from Kmart for the sum of $20.

We polished off a bottle of Pinot Gris, and Anisha made a few cocktails.

We had perfect weather on all days except on Friday where it was overcast.


Video: Cooks Beach Gala 2008

Additional Information: Hahei is a small settlement near Cathedral Cove on the eastern side of the Coromandel Peninsula, in the beautiful Coromandel region.

The Long Walk

This weekend Anisha and I prepared ourselves for our trip to Hahei on Tuesday. On Saturday, I picked up Anisha from the Auckland Domestic Airport at 5:30pm.

I bought a Digitor Digital Photo Frame from Dick Smith Electronics. It cost me $140 and displays photos from Memory Stick, SD Card, and MMC flash media. It's only 7 inches in size. It pretty much a budget model. It does however come with a remote control.

It plays MP3's and Videos as as well. In my tests, It balked when I tried to get it to play video with greater then 25 fps in it. I know that Phillips has a much higher quality unit available at twice the price. I'll consider this my entry into the digital photo frame arena.

I tried and failed to spent the $40 Harvey Norman gift voucher that Charlene and Nick got me for Christmas. Harvey Norman has digital photo frames, but I didn't like the design of the two models they had on offer.

On Sunday, we went to Countdown to get the food we need for the trip to Hahei. The food bill came to around $200. We did some preliminary preparation of everything we needed. We plan to buy the milk, bread, and eggs when we are in Hahei.

On Sunday night, Anisha and I went for a walk to my old house.

Additional Information: Hahei is an attractive beach fringed with pohutukawa trees and drifts of pink shells at the northern end. Offshore islands provide something of a breakwater, making this beach ideal for swimming, boating and fishing.