and now i'll give you a litle resume abaout it, check out this
New Zealand has spectacular mountains ranges, excellent skiing, fijords, volcanos, thermal hot pools, good beaches and surfing locations, deep sea marlin fishing, magnificent bush-walking opportunities, whale watching in season, emerald green farmlands dotted with sheep and cattle, -- New Zealand has about ten times more sheep than people --, unspoilt villages and small rural towns, plus cosmopolitan cities and more. The nation's human population is around four million.
The rich history and culture of the indigenous Maori people is everywhere, and most place names are in the Maori language. There is now a Maori language TV channel, and the language is taught in schools to both Maori and Pakeha (white New Zealanders) children.
It's far enough South to have four distinct seasons, and the beautiful changes of the colors of the trees and spring flowers are a sight to behold in Autumn and Spring.
One of the most beautiful areas of New Zealand is the Coromandel Peninsula.
This finger of rugged green native forest and farmland, fringed by breathtaking beach scenery is only an hour and a half's drive from the cities of Auckland and Hamilton. Its northern tip lies to the east of Auckland, across the Hauraki Gulf.
A three-day leisurely driving excursion is enough time to explore the Coromandel by car. The roads are often winding and steep, a few are unpaved, and it is still unspoilt by tourist infrastructure.
Accommodation outside the few small towns is home-stay style, often in farmhouses. There are also some backpackers inns, and some high class lodges.
According to tribal narratives, New Zealand and also Coromandel were first discovered by the Polynesian sea-farer Kupe, and a group of his people, in approximately 950 AD.
It is said they landed at Whitianga on the Peninsula, and he named it Te Whitianga-a-kupe (The crossing place of Kupe). He left some of his people here and carried on with his explorations of this newfound land, to which his wife gave the name "Aotearoa" (The Land of the Long White Cloud).
It was re-discovered and claimed for England by the explorer Captain James Cook in 1769, during his circumnavigation and mapping of New Zealand. New Zealand had formerly been visited, but not claimed as territory, in 1642 and 1943 by the Dutchman Abel Tasman, who was in the employ of the Dutch East India Company and based in Batavia (Jakarta).
He was searching for the fabled Terra Australis Incognita. Aotearoa was soon referred to as New Zealand on European maps, after the second most important Chapter of the Dutch East India Company, which was located in Zeeland (Sea-Land), the island province in South Western Holland.
This is an historic part of this relatively young country. The first Europeans came to Coromandel in 1795 when the ship "Fancy" arrived to cut kauri spars (huge native trees) for the British Navy.
In 1820 "HMSS Coromandel" arrived, and the name was given to the town and to the Peninsular. In 1854 Charles Ring discovered gold near Coromandel Town and after negotiations with the local Maori land owners, a gold rush followed. There was also ship building, flax milling, collecting and trading of Kauri gum.
In the 1872-1975 period, the town had 22 hotels, now it has two. Coromandel Town still has quite a few surviving buildings from that period. The rest of the main street is reminiscent of a Hollywood set for a wild west town. Some of the old private residences are elegant Victorian and Edwardian styles, as some people found riches through gold.
Now, Coromandel Town has charming art and craft stores, old-fashioned shops, (hardware and drapery, etc) and excellent city standard restaurants and cafes.
This is a fishing port and consequently the seafood in the restaurants is of the best possible standard, in Coromandel Town and anywhere on the peninsula.
During the 60s and 70s, Coromandel attracted a wave of new residents -- artists and craft workers, including well-known potter, Barry Brickell, who came in 1961. His clay supply was up in the rugged native-bush covered hills beyond his workshop, so he began to build a narrow-guage railway to transport the clay.
One of the characteristic images of the Coromandel is blazing red flowering Pohutukawa trees, (the New Zealand Christmas bush) seen against the blue-green of the ocean, on a bright summer day.
These native trees grow in the sand dunes, or on cliffs, almost at the water's edge, and have gnarled and ancient curling trunks and often horizontal branches drooping into the sand dunes, which children just love to play in.
Driving north from Coromandel Town brings you to Colville, a tiny settlement with only a town store, cafe and petrol station, and the local 'tennis club' opposite.
This is a location which seems to belong in a movie -- the classic "one-horse" town. Nearby there is a Tibetan Buddhist Monastery, (Mahamudra Monastery) and it was an unexpected sight to see a saffron and burgundy clad monk clearing the rural letterbox at the roadside.
Beyond Colville, the road goes up the Western Coastline beside the Hauraki Gulf and comes to an end at Port Jackson facing to the north, where large Pohutukawa trees at the edge seem to wander across the dunes horizontally. There is a walking track across the rugged tip to the end of the road on the Eastern Coastline, but the two routes have not been joined.
Whitianga is one of the largest towns on the Coromandel Peninusla. Located on the eastern coast, it faces out into Mercury Bay, and was named by Captain Cook, who spent several days there while he observed the transit of Mercury, in 1769. Whitianga has a good boat harbor, and some excellent tourist accommodation, motels, and apartments. It's a popular holiday and fishing spot with the Kiwis.
The beach of Hahei has the interesting Cathedral Rock, where kayakers love to paddle through the tunnel in this rock formation, situated just offshore.
Hot Water Beach is also a unique place to visit. Visitors arrive with small shovels in their car boots. They set off along the beach to a clump of yellow colored rocks, and just in front of these at low tide, if you dig into the wet sand, you'll find hot water bubbling up to the surface.
Although the ocean waves are rolling up to the very spot, you can sit there in hot water pools. This is just one of the many manifestations of New Zealand's volcanic nature, which tourists flock to see.
This country has something in common with Indonesia, being situated on the join between two of the world's major tectonic plates. Consequently it also has many earthquakes and
tremors, and there have been some destructive quakes and volcanic eruptions.
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