Arrived at our beautiful little airbnb around lunchtime. Very friendly host who gave us a few tips of the area. Then headed out to nearby Thames to get some provisions from a very good NZ supermarket, Pak n Save. Weather wasn’t great after that so just relaxed at the property.
Day 2 we drove to Coromandel town along a beautiful winding coast road and went on the Driving Creek railway, a single gauge little train line that runs through the hills and forest outside Coromandel. The story behind it is very interesting, and the guy that created it is a local hero. Very worthwhile trip for $20 each. Lucky we did that in the morning because it poured with rain in the afternoon and evening, so we hunkered down and watched a film and ate some nice food, together with a bit of wine of course.
Day 3 the rain had cleared through so we drove into the Kaueranga Valley and found a walk called the Cookson Kauri track, takes about 2 hours return, but it’s an absolutely beautiful forest walk, probably the best one I’ve done in my life, and at the end of it you witness a 900 year old native New Zealand Kauri tree. They are amazing specimens that can live up to 3,000 to 4,000 years old apparently. Bare in mind that the walk includes about 650 steps, so it’s a bit of a workout.
After that we drove about 45 minutes to Opoutere beach, quite remote but very beautiful, and enjoyed a couple of hours there sunbathing and swimming. It’s got it all this place, absolutely amazing!
Day 4 it was a beautiful day so we hit the road to Cathedral Cove and Hahei beach, and then finished a Hot Water beach, all along the east coast of the Coromandel. Absolutely stunning drive to get there and the beaches were amazing, in particular Cathedral Cove with it’s natural rock features, fabulous place, Hot Water beach was a bit of fun to finish with, quite a unique spot at low tide, does get very busy though. There is quite a small section of beach that sits on top of the high point of an underground hot spring, so when the tide goes out you can dig yourself a hole and it fills up with warm water and you sit in it. For me it was more than warm, bloody hot I would describe it as. I couldn’t keep my feet in it for more than a few seconds.
Day 5 was another beautiful day, so we did another drive up and over the centre of the Coromandel to a place called Whangapoua, and from there you take about a 30 minute walk to a beach called New Chums. Well worth the effort, because it’s a stunning unspoilt patch of paradise beach. Spent the day soaking up the sun and swimming in pristine water.
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