The Coromandel Peninsula

Scott, Tania, Harriet & Myself

It was the weekend before Harriet's birthday and we wanted to go away somewhere. Rob was soon leaving with Kate and they were selling the car so we decided to make use of it before Harrison (that's the name of the car - don't ask) disappeared. About 4 hours drive from Auckland is the Coromandel Peninsula.

Myself, Harriet, Tom and Scott took off on Saturday morning and headed out. I drove the way there, which takes you past some pretty countryside once your out of Auckland's urban sprawl. The Coromandel Peninsula is a mountainous, forested spine, threaded with hiking trails and narrow, winding roads along attractive coastline. We first had to pick up a friend on the way. Tania, an American girl who we knew from Go Global Backpackers in Taupo was doing a trip up the North Island before getting a flight back to America (although only for a few weeks). We thought it would be a good idea to pick her up for the weekend and then drive her back to our new flat where she was going to kip for a few days. We collected her from the gold-mining town of Thames before continuing on to Whitianga, on the east coast of the Peninsula.

Over the weekend we mainly concentrated our sight-seeing efforts to two regions; Cathedral Cove and the bizarre Hot-Wtaer Beach. Both are located nearby to one another and also nearby to the town of Whitianga - which was handy. The roads to reach these places were very narrow and very windy. I had never driven on such roads before but enjoyed the challenge of keeping my concentration to a maximum. Cathedral Cove lies about 1 km north of a small town called Hahei (it's very small). The Cove is a gigantic limestone arch, cut out by the sea over geological time. To reach the cove, you take a 45 minute walk along the coast, past both Gemstone Bay and Stingray Bay (although we didn't see either gemstones or stingrays). The cove is impressive but perhaps more impressive was the small Penguin we spotted, hiding in the shrub on a beach.

We then headed to Hot-Water Beach. Most of the day, it's a normal sandy beach but two hours either side of low tide, two small sections of sandy beach are exposed. Thermal waters brew just below the sand in front of a rocky outcrop and during the right time, you join the crowds that turn up, get a spade and dig into the sand, bringing up the hot water (about 60 Degrees Celcius) up to the surface. You essentially form your own geothermal pool or spa and it was incredible just lying in the hot volcanic waters. It was so hot in parts you actually needed sea-water to cool your bath down!!! We were there a few good hours.

Inbetween our two days we camped in Whitianga as we had borrowed a huge tent from Harriet's Aunt and Uncle. There we drank the night away and camped out like scouts. Late on Sunday we headed back to Auckland and prepared ourselves for a new week. Life goes on........but the fun is just beginning.............