We left Paihia in the Bay of Islands and drove back south through Auckland to Oputere on the Coromandel peninsula. On the way we passed through Kawakawa, so we stopped and I got to see the Hundertwasser public toilet! It was absolutely astounding-- so rich and organic and alive. We drove on to Coromandel and our hostel, then zipped up to Hahei to do an evening kayaking trip. Unfortunately they hadn't put enough boats out, so Julie and I went and Erik stayed behind. As we paddled away we saw Erik at the end of the beach, and when we semi-joked about him meeting us at Cathedral Cove, the guide said it would be impossible to make it there on foot in time. When we paddled up to Cathedral Cove, though, Erik was just walking through the namesake arch, onto the beach. We hung out there for a bit and planned to meet him at the Cathedral Cove trailhead (a much shorter hike for him), and kayaked around some islands with a lovely view of sunset.
By the time we finished the trip and got up to the trailhead, however, it was nearly 9:30pm and Erik had just started walking down to Hahei beach in the dark. We picked him up and kept a lookout for anywhere that was open for dinner, since the drive back to our hostel was about an hour long. We found a bar with a few food items, most of the way back, and feasted on potato wedges, bread, and wine. It's been a very long day and tomorrow's supposed to be poor weather, but hopefully we'll get out from this... "quaint" hostel and see some of Coromandel's beachy sights.