Sunrise over Coromandel

This is what we woke up to on our campground (just a stretch of grass and shells above the waterline on the east coast of Firth of Thames called Ray's Rest) this morning. The ocean which had lulled me to sleep had withdrawn quite some distance but I love the reflections in the pools left behind.
We headed west to Cathedral Cove and, despite getting there earlier than the guidebook suggested, could not park. On the way back down the hill from the car park a guy gestured us in to his drive and charged us just ten dollars, worth it to avoid the ascent back from the village car park. We had a leisurely couple of hours in the water in this stunning place and then drove around the Coromandel Peninsula, stopping off at views. At Coromandel itself, a small town quickly going to sleep on a hot summer afternoon, we used the dump station for the first time, which was educational, and then drove south to our wild campground (so wild we are the only ones here!)
It's raining and looks set to do that for the next few days so we are moving at a more leisurely pace to give Tony a rest from driving up and down those windy mountain roads. We are booked on what will be a soggy tour of Hobbiton in the morning and then it's on to a posh campsite for two days at Rotorua!