Coromandel

The drive to Coromandel, the eastern peninsula on the North island, took me through Auckland, and inevitably, Auckland traffic. And it was raining. I was happy to finally get through the city and turn east away from the city. My first stop on the peninsula was near the northern part of the west coast and the town of Coromandel (same name as the peninsula….). The road hugged the coast line on one side and steep mountain slopes on the other, with occasional breaks were small townships were nestled in a ravine. As I got nearer my destination, I swapped the curvy, twisting road that dropped off abruptly to the water for a curvy, twisting road that dropped off the side of a mountain ridge as I crossed one final set of hills to drop into the valley where the campground was. New Zealand does not have a lot of straight roads, or at least I have not encountered them yet! Even though I had to pay attention to the road, I would steal glances at the coastline, admiring the frequent changing colors of the water, itching to stop and take a picture but on the narrow roads, that was not a possibility.

The campground was on the water and I had a site that looked directly out over a shallow bay. It was warm when I arrived, and a bunch of young people were in the water swimming and kayaking and generally having a good time. I settled in and took the opportunity to do some laundry, sitting on the shoreline and admiring the view while waiting for my clothes to finish.

I woke to skies threatening rain the next morning, but the weather report indicated that it would hold off until the afternoon so I decided to go hiking to visit a kauri tree grove. There are multiple groves scattered around the peninsula, all under threat by a dieback disease. To reach the trail head I had to retrace my steps about half-way back down the coastline and turn inland at a small town set in a ravine. There was only one other car in the parking area when I arrived so parking was easy. The trail head started about a quarter mile from the car park and, to protect the trees, the entrance gate to the trail had brushes for your shoes (like when you walk into a low grade clean room) and spray disinfectant—all mitigate transference of the disease killing the kauri. After doing my part to help, with freshly clean shoes, I set out along the path. The path plunged into the rainforest immediately and followed a stream back and up into the steep slopes. It was very peaceful and an enjoyable walk to the grove. At the grove, a sign indicated there was a lookout about half-mile further up so I decided, why not?

Well, about 400 stairs later, I was questioning my decision. The path to the lookout went straight up (hence the stairs). And yes, I had to stop to catch my breath every now and then- the stairs never seemed to end! At the top the path narrowed, turning into what looked like a goat track, twisting and turning around exposed tree roots as it climbed. The view from the lookout was great, however, and I was able to look back down the ravine I had just climbed up, all the way to the coast. Weirdly it did not look as steep from the top….

I hung out a bit and then headed back down the trail/steps to hike out. My timing was perfect because as I returned down the trail, by the time I had gotten back to my camper van, I passed a dozen or so people walking in. The trail was getting crowded, but I had it all to myself- it pays to be an early bird! Also as I got to the van, a little moisture was starting to spit from the sky. Again, perfect timing!

I headed back up the coast and, having worked up a good appetite after my 2.5 hour walk, decided to stop at a road-side seafood café, well known for oysters and mussels, that sits just outside of Coromandel town. I feasted on fried oysters, mussels, shrimp and fish and the oysters and mussels were exceptionally good because they were very fresh. The rain that had started further south had not made it north yet but I could tell from the sky it was coming so I got back to the campground, settled in and pulled out my chair to watch the storm come in. From the campground it was possible to make out the hazy outline of the Bay of Islands and the storm clouds, racing across the bay towards us were very dramatic, creating spectacular lighting conditions over the water. I spent a lot of time trying to capture the changing scenes on my camera. Eventually the rain (and thunder) reached us so I retreated into my cozy camper van with my kindle and settled in to read for the rest of the day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I headed out the next day to drive east over the spine of mountains that run down the peninsula to spend a few days on the east coast. On my way over the summit, I stopped for a short (and steep, yet again with steps!) hike up to a great lookout to get a birds-eye view of the west bay. From my high vantage point, I could also see the east coast in the distance, as I stared directly into the expanse of the Pacific Ocean. After following the twisting and turning road down the pass and through the mountains I emerged on the east coast, which unlike the sheer drop off into the water on the west coast, had more plains and flatland between where the mountains end and the coast started. Even though my campground was south down the east coast a ways, I veered north first to check out New Chums Beach.

New Chums Beach is reputed to be one of the most beautiful beaches in New Zealand (and in some reports, also the world) but to get to it is not easy. It is not possible to drive to the beach, you must get there by hiking in from the nearby Waikawau Beach. Waikawau is a small community, maybe a few hundred (?) adjacent to a very long and popular beach. The north end of the beach has a very small parking area (most of the parking is about halfway down the beach) which is where people park for hiking to New Chums beach. When I arrived ther were about seven or eight cars there and the area was completely full. I had to park along the side of the street, in front of some of the homes. This was another instance where I wondered what happens in summer when the number of tourists go up—the street in front of all the homes along the road would be swamped with parked cars….

To get to New Chums beach required a traverse of a boulder field. I was there at low tide and I am not sure how passable the boulders are at high tide. As I carefully picked my way through the boulders around the point I could see evidence of water all the way up to the shore line. It was hard to spot the narrow trail that emerged from the trees and I missed it the first time, stumbling past on the boulders further than I should have. Another guy was out on the rocks looking and we teamed up, realizing we had gone too far. Backtracking we found the trail and from there it was an easy walk to the beach. The beach was beautiful, a secluded flat expanse of white sand, gently sloping into the water, located in a protected bay. I could easily see the attraction. I hung out for a while and headed back. Again my timing was perfect because I passed a lot of people heading to the beach as I was leaving; it was going to get crowded. I was not looking forward to dealing with the boulder field again but figured at least I was getting a balance and cardio workout! Sure enough when I got back to my camper van, the cars along the street extended forward about three more houses.

I headed south towards my next campground in Hahei, also located on a beach. (Beaches are a theme in the northern part of the North Island!). After checking in and getting the camper van connected, a few steps found me on the Hahei beach and I took a stroll down the beach before chilling out and making dinner.

I picked Hahei as a stop because it was close to two interesting areas I wanted to visit—Cathedral Cove and Hot Water Beach. There are multiple ways to get to Cathedral Cove, hiking, kayaks and water taxis that depart from Hahei beach, glass bottom boats etc.. What you cannot do is drive there. Like New Chums Beach, Cathedral Cove, which gets its name for the large rock arch that dominates the beach, is not accessible by road. Hahia, another very tiny township that gets overwhelmed in the summer, set up a car park on the outskirts of town and runs a shuttle from the carpark to the trail head for Cathedral Cove. It is a brilliant way to manage the crowds! But I did not have to worry about parking my camper van anywhere, I simply walked to the trail head from the campground. The walk was about an hour although I diverted near the beach to hike the loop trail that led to a lookout with a wonderful view around the corner from the beach. (more hills!)

Unlike the other places I had been, even though I got to the beach mid-morning, it was a bee hive of activity. Two different kayak groups were milling about on shore and it looked like one school group was congregating at the far end of the beach, having rowed in on inflatable rafting boats. The rest of the occupants were a mix of hikers like me who came to check out the beach and sun-bathers who had hiked over to stay and soak up the sun. The people watching was excellent so I found some shade and hung out for 30 minutes. It was shortly after noon when I left and I passed even more people on the way to the beach. Yikes!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back at the campground I checked in at reception to rent a shovel, a required tool for a visit to Hot Water Beach, my next stop and only a ten-minute drive from the campground. Hot Water Beach got its name because of the geothermal activity that runs near the surface under part of the beach. The sand is actually hot and if you dig a hole you can create a hot tub—except the water can be so hot, it necessary to add sea water to cool it down. I was not sure what to expect but when I got to the beach, it was clear where the right spots to dig where—there were a ton of people in one localized spot and the beach was peppered with deep holes and trenches. I headed over to check it out. It was kind of hilarious because no one was really sure where to dig exactly and several of the deep holes only had cold water in them. Asking around I found the area where the warm (and hot) water was originating. A couple from England and I teamed up to extend a trench that had a hot water source so we had a place to sit. Some German kids and an Australian family joined in.

There was a very distinct line between where warm water was originating and when the temperature of the sand became scalding. The woman from England (I never got her name) and I were sitting right at the edge of that line and pushing the hot water down the trench towards the others. Across the barren spot where no one could sit because it was too hot, was another group lounging in their pools. In front and back of us (towards and away from the water) others were also lounging in hot pools. Others still were trying to figure out where else to dig. It was chaos with digging happening everywhere and sand piling up in huge mounds randomly. I sat and chatted with my new friend from England for a while, until my finders started to prune up, then decided to head out. Before doing so I walked down to the water’s edge, walking through the sand trying to track by temperature where the thermal energy was located. Sure enough, I immediately found hot sand as my foot sunk into the sand as the waves washed out. It was hot enough that I jumped and moved pretty quickly. It was a weird sensation to have the cold water washing over my foot while the bottom of my foot was threatened with getting burnt!

After that great adventure and unusual experience I headed back to the campground, turned in my shovel and went to take a shower to get all the sand off of myself and my swim suit. I turned in early as the following day, I had a long drive to Rotorua, with a few stops along the way.