Whitianga - Coromandel Peninsula
Our last stop south of Auckland for this journey around New Zealand is at Whitianga on the Coromandel Peninsula. We’ve been on the west side of the Coromandel a couple of times before, but never the east. The Coromandel is a very popular tourist spot with easy access from Auckland and when we drove up here on Sunday, there was a steady stream of cars heading south. Summer’s over, autumn is setting in, and there’s some heavy rain coming. Our AirBnB here is very quiet and our hosts Marilyn and Garth are wonderful. They met us when we arrived, made sure to show us around and checked if we had everything we needed, very welcoming. The town centre is a block away, an easy walk. Our first full day here, we took the small ferry across to Ferry Landing and hiked up to the Shakespeare Cliff Lookout. From there you get an overview of Mercury Bay, and Lonely Bay. Mecury Bay was named by Captain Cook when he stopped here and observed the transit of Mercury. Lonely bay, just around the corner, was where Cook careened his ship to scrape it clean. That would have been quite the sight for the local Māori! Again, beautiful trails and a view!
Views from our hike to Shakespeare Cliff
The plan for day 2 was to see Cathedral Cove. This is a special place, and accessible only by boat or a 30-90 minute walk. We chose the 90 minute option! During the tourist season, Dec 1 - May 1, you can not park at the trailhead, but you can in a dedicated lot in the town of Hahei about 1.5 km away. There is a shuttle, but the walk up is worth it. The trail itself has been upgraded and while lots ups and down, the path is paved and accessible. The last part, down to cove itself is by steps, lots of steps!
Cathedral Cove
We stopped at a cafe in Hahei on our way back to the car, had lunch and decided to drive over to Coromandel Town on the west side of the peninsula. Super twisty windy road, but easy to drive. Had a bit of a wander around and found a nice place to get an ice-cream. Nice little town and quiet this time of year!
A classic right hand drive Chevy Bel-Air, and a view overlooking Coromandel Town
Day three here is a quiet day. Rain on and off, so off to the local laundry for that chore. We’re under a heavy rain advisory from 06:00 Thursday as the tail end of a cyclone dumps a lot of rain on us. We’re of course driving north on Thursday, and it’s one of our longest drives on this trip so an early start is the plan.
BTW, petrol prices are now 343.7. We topped up, 25 litres (half a tank) for NZD $86.10.
