Coromandel - Days 6 & 7

(Saturday 16th September)

Well the weather was rather mental today! Boiling hot sun one minute (I was working in the garden in my vest top) and the next minute it was torrential rain, quickly followed up with giant hailstones!! This happened a few times today so I just gave up the gardening and helped in the cafe; doing dishes and clearing plates.

I did manage to get this bit of tidying done on the steps leading up from the car park though! (Those last two steps show what all the steps looked lol before I weeded them!!)

 

I literally spent the rest of the day people watching, reading, eating a little cake, and drinking tea! I also made the dinner tonight of smoked salmon and new potatoes! 

I'm really enjoying th vibe here in the Coromandel. It's quite a hippy place (I.e. Lots of hippies about) and there is a general   feeling of relaxation yet a busy and bustling artistic community. There's a let of gardens and home grown veg plots, a lot of chickens in backhardens, in this part of town here are lots of artists and crafty people about. Other than that I also think that this feels like quite an island community. It reminds me in a lot of ways like home, a slower pace of life, yet under the surface there is a pumping thriving busy community going about their lives. The tourist season hasn't really started yet but apparently this vibe changes a lot in the heat of summer, and the locals retreat into their shells, so I'm glad to be here now and experience it as it is now. 

(Sunday 17th)

Been doing some research of some Lord of the Rings locations that I could visit (other than Hobbiton) and did that while enjoying my morning coffee 

Wow today was really busy at the cafe! I'd been in Marijkes office working on designing a new menu for her, and was in there till about 12, when I emerged it was into a frenzy of bustling lunchtime cafe madness! It was great to see the cafe so busy, and so I went through to help in ththe kitchen, more specifically I helped wash and dry dishes! 

Again I had a really lovely lunch ... which was a Tempe burger with bean smash avocado tomato and tahini dressing 😍

Snapped this pic of one of our regulars' dog, Belle, waiting patiently for Sean to finish his coffee. :) 

In the evening I made myself some spicy chicken and roast veg wraps as Marijke (who is a vegetarian, is out of town tonight visiting her daughter in Tauranga. I was going to go with her on this wee adventure but she's only away till tomorrow morning so that didn't leave much time to explore. Anyway I'll pass through there for a night or two on my way down south in a couple of weeks :)