Today was my day to drive and that is probably a very good thing! The roads from Hot Water Beach to the Coromandel Peninsula are pretty curvy and apparently I now get carsick. Yesterday I ended up taking a dramamine and then proceeded to pass out in the back seat for the entire 4 hr trip! 🙈 We left the Top 10 Holiday park and our cute little family cabin, slammed way too much yogurt for breakfast, didn’t find any coffee, and were 15 mins early to our destination! The expedition for today was a guided canyoneering tour (https://www.canyonz.co.nz) down Sleeping God Canyon. We did the whole day trip and it was perfect! Our guides were Sarah and Alex and they did an amazing job of leading us in absailing, zip lining, and cliff jumping. The walk up was about an hour uphill but totally worth it knowing we were going to descend 300 meters down, via the canyon!

 

 

 

 

The water was cold but we were comfortable enough in the 5 mil wetsuits they provide. The 5.11 shoes were also super grippy and made scrambling on the wet rocks a breeze! Other than Steve, the rest of us hadn’t done a ton of rappeling but the set up was easy and we were quick learners.

The view from the first ledge was breathtaking!

The water was a little too low for the slide, but Alex basically picked Ashish up and threw him down! I made it to the water but Steve and Josh met with too much friction at the end and stopped.
I can’t embed videos here, but follow the link for the fun!

One of our favorite parts was a short rappel that ended with a short zip into the water.

The day ended at our lodging, The Horse and Jockey in Matamata (which we are calling the Prancing Pony). As I sit here, wrapping this up for the day, there is a drunk singing to himself out on the sidewalk. I can envision a carousing group of hobbits, and I’m hoping no one in our room is harboring a secret ring!