Coromandel
Here's the full story...!
Jan 28th: Coromandel West Coast
We both had a nice run through Shakespeare Regional Park on the outer loop, to the cliffs and around by the beach area. Driving on to Thames, we left my car there! Driving up the west coast of Coromandel we had superb views with fantastic weather. Took the 309 road inland past Waiau Waterworks and climbed Castle Rock – steep climb with great views over Coromandel. Continued driving north past Colville, right up to Fletcher Bay DOC campsite. Fantastic drive although slow-going on unsealed roads past Colville. Beautiful views looking back along coast in evening light, sun still shining. Best part past Waiaro, towards Fantail Bay and beyond...absoloutely superb.
Jan 29th: Coromandel Peninsula
After a great DOC camping spot at Fletcher Bay, we took the bikes on the biking track inland from the coastal walkway around to Stony Bay – except we pushed most of the way uphill through grass, it was a really windy day! Fast downhill to Stony Bay, nice lunch spot on the beach! Continued biking on the unsealed road up and down hills to Port Charles, Marcel swam in the sea and we both went on the swings! Biked back and locked up the bikes before walking back via the Coromandel Peninsula Walkway – great views and nice easy track. Took a detour via Sugarloaf hill, climbed over and scrambled (really scrambled!) down to the Pinnacles – Marcel’s idea, he took the blame for this dangerous adventure…a beautiful spot though and worth the difficult track down and steep climb back up! Stayed at Fletcher Bay again, such a nice spot with the sound of the waves crashing against the shore right next to us.
Jan 30th: Coromandel Peninsula
Drove around to Stony Bay on the unsealed roads to collect the bikes…I ran on the Peninsula Walkway back to Poley Bay – such a nice running track! Then we climbed Mt. Moehau, at 892m just behind Stony Bay. Quite the steep climb through bush, a bit cloudy so views not as clear as we could imagine but still really nice. We managed to lose each other on the way down, the track was pretty unclear through the trees, but after trying to find Marcel for 30 minutes and climbing back up to the bushline, I just continued down – he’d followed some animal tracks for a while and managed to discover the track again further down! Continued driving south via Coromandel again, and round to Kuaotonu where we found a nice camping spot by the sea (again!)
Jan 31st: Coromandel East Coast
Although there weren’t any no camping signs, we were woken by a friendly ranger person who told us we weren’t really meant to camp there, but as long as we packed up within an hour we were fine. It was raining so we drove round to Whitianga and decided to find rainy day activities there. Phone calls and photo galleries + tourist shopping didn’t take long, and since we were wet anyway I went for a run and Marcel went swimming in the sea! It started to clear up and we drove back up to Kuatonu for a “short” bike ride (Marcel’s idea again…at least I’m blaming him). 6km to Opito Bay – up-down, up-down, up-down, continuous hills most of the way! It was a really nice spot and we had a walk on the beach and then followed another road (over yet another hill!) to Matapaua Bay where we walked along the rocks and up onto a clifftop for views of Needle Rock and The Twins. It was really nice but neither of us were particularly looking forward to the tiring bike ride back…it wasn’t too bad though! Driving back to Whitianga we stayed in a Motor Camp that night, and tried, unsuccessfully, to find a seafood restaurant that was open for dinner.
Feb 1st: Hahei, Cathedral Cove
Continuing round to Cooks Beach, we took a walk up to Shakespeare Lookout and could see back to The Twins and Needle Rock! Drove round to Hahei and walked along to Cathedral Cove…I ran back along the track and visited Gemstone & Stingray Bays but at high tide there wasn’t much beach access and they were very rocky in comparison to Cathedral Cove. Had a very brief stop at Hot Water Beach but again, high tide, so couldn’t dig the pools – Marcel went for a swim to test the temperature difference anyway, in the rain! Driving back to Thames we collected my car and drove east again to Mt. Manganui, staying at the motor camp at the base of the mount.
The overview...
Driving up the west coast was really scenic, with small bays and stony beaches and the entire way. We spent a couple of days at the north tip, doing some biking and walking, plus a hike up Mt. Moehau. The campsites were really the best, with the sound of waves crashing about 10 metres from the tent, we are getting spoilt. The beaches on the East Coast are sandy, and therefore busier, and the cliff walkways give some spectacular views.
28/1 - 2/2
Jan 28th: Coromandel West Coast
We both had a nice run through Shakespeare Regional Park on the outer loop, to the cliffs and around by the beach area. Driving on to Thames, we left my car there! Driving up the west coast of Coromandel we had superb views with fantastic weather. Took the 309 road inland past Waiau Waterworks and climbed Castle Rock – steep climb with great views over Coromandel. Continued driving north past Colville, right up to Fletcher Bay DOC campsite. Fantastic drive although slow-going on unsealed roads past Colville. Beautiful views looking back along coast in evening light, sun still shining. Best part past Waiaro, towards Fantail Bay and beyond...absoloutely superb.
Jan 29th: Coromandel Peninsula
After a great DOC camping spot at Fletcher Bay, we took the bikes on the biking track inland from the coastal walkway around to Stony Bay – except we pushed most of the way uphill through grass, it was a really windy day! Fast downhill to Stony Bay, nice lunch spot on the beach! Continued biking on the unsealed road up and down hills to Port Charles, Marcel swam in the sea and we both went on the swings! Biked back and locked up the bikes before walking back via the Coromandel Peninsula Walkway – great views and nice easy track. Took a detour via Sugarloaf hill, climbed over and scrambled (really scrambled!) down to the Pinnacles – Marcel’s idea, he took the blame for this dangerous adventure…a beautiful spot though and worth the difficult track down and steep climb back up! Stayed at Fletcher Bay again, such a nice spot with the sound of the waves crashing against the shore right next to us.
Jan 30th: Coromandel Peninsula
Drove around to Stony Bay on the unsealed roads to collect the bikes…I ran on the Peninsula Walkway back to Poley Bay – such a nice running track! Then we climbed Mt. Moehau, at 892m just behind Stony Bay. Quite the steep climb through bush, a bit cloudy so views not as clear as we could imagine but still really nice. We managed to lose each other on the way down, the track was pretty unclear through the trees, but after trying to find Marcel for 30 minutes and climbing back up to the bushline, I just continued down – he’d followed some animal tracks for a while and managed to discover the track again further down! Continued driving south via Coromandel again, and round to Kuaotonu where we found a nice camping spot by the sea (again!)
Jan 31st: Coromandel East Coast
Although there weren’t any no camping signs, we were woken by a friendly ranger person who told us we weren’t really meant to camp there, but as long as we packed up within an hour we were fine. It was raining so we drove round to Whitianga and decided to find rainy day activities there. Phone calls and photo galleries + tourist shopping didn’t take long, and since we were wet anyway I went for a run and Marcel went swimming in the sea! It started to clear up and we drove back up to Kuatonu for a “short” bike ride (Marcel’s idea again…at least I’m blaming him). 6km to Opito Bay – up-down, up-down, up-down, continuous hills most of the way! It was a really nice spot and we had a walk on the beach and then followed another road (over yet another hill!) to Matapaua Bay where we walked along the rocks and up onto a clifftop for views of Needle Rock and The Twins. It was really nice but neither of us were particularly looking forward to the tiring bike ride back…it wasn’t too bad though! Driving back to Whitianga we stayed in a Motor Camp that night, and tried, unsuccessfully, to find a seafood restaurant that was open for dinner.
Feb 1st: Hahei, Cathedral Cove
Continuing round to Cooks Beach, we took a walk up to Shakespeare Lookout and could see back to The Twins and Needle Rock! Drove round to Hahei and walked along to Cathedral Cove…I ran back along the track and visited Gemstone & Stingray Bays but at high tide there wasn’t much beach access and they were very rocky in comparison to Cathedral Cove. Had a very brief stop at Hot Water Beach but again, high tide, so couldn’t dig the pools – Marcel went for a swim to test the temperature difference anyway, in the rain! Driving back to Thames we collected my car and drove east again to Mt. Manganui, staying at the motor camp at the base of the mount.
The overview...
Driving up the west coast was really scenic, with small bays and stony beaches and the entire way. We spent a couple of days at the north tip, doing some biking and walking, plus a hike up Mt. Moehau. The campsites were really the best, with the sound of waves crashing about 10 metres from the tent, we are getting spoilt. The beaches on the East Coast are sandy, and therefore busier, and the cliff walkways give some spectacular views.
28/1 - 2/2
posted by Mhairi
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