For the final leg of our New Zealand tour, we decided to head to the Coromandel peninsula. Known for its remote beaches and supposed off-the-beaten-track feel, we thought it would be a good place to unwind before heading to the big city of Auckland.
Our first couple of nights were spent at a campground near "Hot Water Beach" which was central to some of the more popular sights on the east coast of the peninsula. It was a very nice area surrounded by sub-tropical forest, but remote it was not. This beach is very much on the standard tourist track of the north island, and was extremely popular - unfortunately we soon realized that having a remote beach experience was a bit out of the question. Hot water beach is a place where a thermal spring percolates up through the sand and meets the ocean tides. If you time it right (at low tide only), you can dig a hole at the edge of the beach which will actually fill up with hot water.
Sounded fantastic - so we rented a shovel, and headed down to the beach trying to target low-tide. Turns out, about a hundred other people also had the same idea and the actual area on the beach where the water comes up is fairly small. There were SO many people on the beach that there was standing room only.
We did manage to dig a hole and wiggle our feet into the sand and it was definately HOT - hot enough that I couldn't keep my feet buried in the sand for more than a few minutes. It was definately interesting, but the number of people really took away from the experience. In hindsight, a better choice would have been to wake up in the middle of the night and go down to the beach for low-tide in the dark - which would have been a bit quieter.
From the same campground we also took a day trip out to Cathedral Cove - an eroded sandstone arch. Reached by a 40min hike, the highlight for me was actually stopping at the two smaller beaches on the way. A small detour off the hiking trail leads to Gemstone bay, and also Stingray bay. I heard that the snorkeling was pretty good here so I rented a wetsuit and gear from a local dive shop before we walked in. Snorkeling was great and I got some up close views of the local sea-life.
I even saw a whole "school"?? of squid - They were only about 30cm long, but I didn't know that they hung out in gangs. Water clarity wasn't that great, and this wasn't a coral reef, but it still gave a good tour of what the native rocky shoreline is like.
Next we stopped in Stingray bay, which turns out not to be just a name. The entire bay was teeming with stingrays. I didn't have to even put on a snorkel as they were swimming around in the sandy wash of the incoming waves. I spent most of my time trying not to actually step on them as they swam around in less than a foot of water! Unfortuntely I didn't get any good pictures since the water was so cloudy.
Cathedral cove, was as it was described - a big arch worn away in the sandstone In the end, I thought that the Cathedral Cove arch was a bit of a "meh", with the real cool stuff being at the beaches which everyone seemed to just rush by! Definately worth the stop.
The next couple of nights we ventured farther north up the peninsula to the west side and kept driving north, luntil we ran out of (sealed) road at Colville. Here we stayed at an active cattle/sheep farm with a really long history - the owners are sixth generation farmers working their 1200 hectare (=huge) family farm. It was so large that Marie and I took a 3 hour hike to the far reaches of their property which actually extended all the way back into the spine of mountains running down the middle of the penninsula.
Hiking to the top we crossed lush pasture, rocky rolling hills, and even an abandoned mine. The owners supplied a hand-drawn map at the cabin we were staying in giving directions to the abandoned mine in the forest on their property, with the main attraction being glow-worms in one of the corners inside the mine. What could be safer than tramping through the jungle to an old mine, and then poking around inside? Directions: hike down the road for about an hour, stay left, then make a left at the handwritten sign that says "mine", follow the fence into the forest, cross a river and then tramp through the jungle until you stumble upon the mine entrance. It was a bit of an adventure but we eventually found the mine (which was supposedly safe).
We also found the glow-worms in a side tunnel - no problem: enter mine, take the first left, walk down the tunnel and then take the first right. Glow-worms!
Finishing the hike we headed up to the "best viewpoint" - being about dead center in the middle of the peninsula it gave good views of both the east and west coasts with great views to the lush sub-tropical forests made up of beech, nikau and cabbage trees.
This area was much more off the beaten track and well worth the visit.
We spent the last few days in Auckland, at an amazing 100 year old house we found on Airbnb. David, the owner of house, was a great host and room was amazing complete with french doors opening onto a native sub-tropical garden. It even included a preying mantis going after Marie...
Sitting in the airport we are now awaiting our flight to Singapore, our next stop. We both had a great time in NZ and will definately be back one day. It was SWEET-AS!
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