Driving Creek Railway and Pottery/ Along the 390

We were wise to take the beach day yesterday, because
today the weather went back to cool and cloudy; but Cory and I had so much fun, whatever the weather!

It's amazing what you see on some people's lawns:

Today we explored the Driving Creek Railway and Pottery. It was originally begun/built in 1975 by potter Barry Brickell as a way to transport clay from his land.  He eventually also used his property to reseed the country with native plants.

This is a cool retaining wall built of glass bottles:

A fabulous view of the island-studded Hauraki Gulf:

Standing atop the "Eyefull Tower" (Get it?)

All I could say, was "buttcrack">

After that adventure, we began to cross to the other side of the penninsula using route 309....it was an interesting drive to say the least!

,,,what the....???

Further along, we saw this: 

...and then this:

Cory is adoring a kauri tree xoxoxo:

More chicken wire! Wahoo!

A walk through a Kauri tree preserve--they were big and beautiful!

Chartre Manor Lodge and Finally, A BEACH DAY!!!

 After leaving our lovely Hairy Feet tour, we continued on to our FINAL (sniff, sniff) destination: the town of Thames, located at the southwestern foot of the Coromandel Penninsula.  Our B&B, the Chartre Manor Lodge, is the house on the hill.....

 ...with a breathtaking view of the Firth of Thames.

                                          

Dennis and Paulette were amazing hosts.

...and the food was fabulous!

On our way to the Hot Water Beach, we stopped and hiked up to a viewpoint area:

 Wow.

Once we arrived at the carpark for the Hot Water Beach, we had a walk through some great foliage:

 The Hot Water beach is located in Mercury Bay on the east side of the Coromandel Penninsula, about 12 miles south of Whitianga.  There are underground hot springs that are accessible between low and high tides.  People come from everywhere with shovels and dig up their own natural hot tubs.  It's crazy! And the water is really warm in the holes; there are lifeguards there to keep you away from the super hot water.  The beach water, however, is refreshingly cold :)

Neither Cory nor I felt like sitting in the holes, so we walked along the beach, combing for shells and minding our steps to avoid these cute little jelly fish scattered all over the place....

 Ahhhhh......just to relax and soak in the sun!

We also saw a lot of surfers....

We saw this poster on the side of a fish n/chips stand....it looked pretty real!

 Pretty tame gulls waiting for compensation....

A few miles north of the Hot Water Beach was Hahei Beach, where we spent the bulk of the afternoon....it was glorious.

Random final picture.....hahahaha!