Coromandel

I want to go back. And I just left.

Close to a third of my trip has been spent right here on the Coromandel peninsula. At least four swings through: Cook's Beach, Wilderland, Lonely Bay, Shakespeare Cliffs, Hahei, the most gorgeous stretches of coastline in a country with nothing but, Dharma Gaia, funny little Thames, the Pinnacles, three haircuts in Whitianga, where I now know the streets and shops. The guy at the hardware store now recognizes me.

This was the first place I headed when I bought Xena, and it's kind of funny that my last week is a perfect bookend to the beginning of my trip: the guest room in Jill's Cooks Beach home, and now to my very first Auckland hosts Andrew and Rushlee for these last few nights.

The sweetest spot on the Coromandel: Colenso Cafe, home of many a flat white.

Another hallway? Or a new portal?

Interesting that I spent the weekend helping to build a new doorway-- woo.woo.

And I just noticed I've constructed the end of my adventure to make a tidy full circle -- or spiral?

Like standing against the yardstick on the wall. Have I grown? How do you measure such a thing?