Horses, Goat (Island), Alpacas!

Friday July 3rd, Saturday 4th of July

Sadly we had to leave Hahei, but we made ourselves feel better by riding horses this morning! We drove up to Twin Oaks Ranch and went for a lovely "trek" around the 900 acre property. It is a working farm so we rode amongst the cattle, goats, and sheep- of which they have 2,000! Up on top of a few big hills we had a great view of Mercury Bay, but from the other side, and we could actually look across and see Shakespeare's Cliff where we were standing yesterday which was quite cool.We spent most of the afternoon poking around Coromandel Town and drinking coffee and eating cake at Success Cafe which was lovely.
We made our way all the way around the Peninsula- the driving is so curvy that it makes the going really slow- and stayed at the Sunkist Backpackers. Craig, the guy who runs the place, was full of the funniest stories and lots of good tips for us. He has done a lot of traveling and was a tour bus driver for a lot of years in NZ and Europe. Apparently he would tell backpackers they had to change money when they went from the North Island to the South Island, and eventually the ferry had to take down their Bureau de Change sign they had so many requests! He also told people he was driving around Switzerland that this tall waterfall was turned off every night at exactly 10pm. So all the tourists would be outside with their cameras, waiting to see the water stop and the "end" of the fall. Nevermind water doesn't just stop in a wave, or that the whole idea is ridiculous. Craig clearly really enjoyed his job.
We drove further north on Saturday and passed by Auckland. The one toll road on the island is here, and we figured it would be a piece of cake after years of living on the MassPike. Wrong! There are no toll booths here. To pay you have to go inside the service station and que up for the one working machine that takes cash. Otherwise you can call up and pay with your credit card or go online. Apparently some guy was charged $200 instead of $2.00 when he did that, so most people seemed to think waiting inside was the way to go.
We took Craig's advice and stopped at Goat Island for our picnic. It's a marine reserve and in the summer they have a glass bottom boat you can go in and the snorkeling is supposed to be excellent. It was cold and overcast when we were there. The water was really clear, but a bit too choppy to see much. We got glimpses of a few fish, so that was fun. It is a beautiful area nonetheless, and a nice break from the road! There was a colony of nesting shags (birds that are very similar to cormorants). It is called Goat Island because back in the day, sailors would call any small offshore island with no fresh water Goat because they could put goats out there that could feed any shipwreck survivors. There is no indications there were ever any goats on Goat Island, but at one point there were pigs. They escaped by swimming to shore.
We arrived at Rocky Bay Alpacas around 6pm. It was dark and rainy, but we saw a few pacas chilling in their paddocks. We were hoping to have a BBQ 4th of July celebration, but it was cold and we couldn't quite figure out the grill (sometimes you really do need a guy around!). We hadn't realized the kitchen accomodations would be quite so minimal, so we improvised and cooked our veggie sausages and french fries in an electric pan! They were accompanied by a lovely custard apple boozy drink from our friend Danny. It was the strangest 4th of July celebration ever, but we made an effort, and it was memorable- if not delicious!