Coromandel Peninsula

Yesterday we left the "Thermal Explorer Highway" that ran from Taupo up to Rotorua and beyond and we joined the "Pacific Coast Highway", that runs along the East coast of the North Island. They love naming their roads here! We drove up to the Coromandel Peninsula.

We spent a very enjoyable day on the Coromandel Peninsula today. We started off with a walk along a coastal path leading to a couple of lovely bays. We visited Gemstone Bay, a rocky bay that can be good for snorkelling if you hit it at the right time (we didn't!) and Stingray Bay (1st photo), a lovely sandy little cove where we all went for a paddle and checked out the rockpools. Unfortunately, we were not able to walk all the way along to Cathedral Bay, which has an apparently spectacular rock arch formation, as a landslide during the recent floods in Northern NZ has closed the track temporarily.

After chip butties for lunch, we visited Hot Water Beach. This was a great place where, if you visit within 2 hours of low tiide (we timed our visit right for this one!), on a certain part of the beach you can dig into the sand to create your own hot water pool. We did it - and yes, the wtaer really was warm... another demonstration of NZ's extensive geothermal activity. We spent a fun couple of hours here, until the tide came in, bringing considerably colder water and destroying our pool... Later we visited a "winery" but when we got there the tastings were mostly of locally made fruit liquers - it actually made a nice change from grape wine tasting and some of the liquers were very drinkable. We stayed there to enjoy some wood-fired pizza for dinner in the gardens, washed down with a glass of their own cider, made from apples and their local feijoa fruit. The weather feels hotter and more humid today and another storm is apparently on the way, this time from the Pacific Islands. We may end up hitting the museums of Auckland a day earlier than planned if the forecast is right....Read more