The weekend tramp to the Pinnacles about 2 months ago barely scratched the surface of how much there is to explore up in the Coromandel Peninsula. Rod was eager to take me up that way and show me around--- he knows it pretty well as his family used to have a beach house up there. So we planned a weekend trip to explore more of the Coromandel.
"Cruisey" is another common Kiwi word. It basically means "leisurely". Coromandel in general is a pretty cruisey place.... low-key beach living/relaxing at its finest.
The weather gods were unfortunately NOT in our favor.. the entire country of New Zealand was expecting a "weather bomb". (Don't worry, I had never heard of such a thing before either.) I'm no meteorologist, but apparently a weather bomb is a low pressure system where the pressure drops a lot, quickly, and makes rain, flooding, and all sorts of good disasterous stuff.
Weather bomb or no weather bomb, is was Coromandel or bust!
On Saturday morning on the drive up, it was windy and some patches of rain, but nothing crazy. Our first stop was Tairua, an old milling and farming town, now just a small seaside fishing village. There's a volanic peak called Mt Paku there that a short walk up it gives great views of the neighbouring town, Painui.
After some peaks of sun, the rain started again, and look closely at what appeared!
Gosh I love rainbows :)
We bopped on over to Painui to explore the town and grab a bite of lunch. The small hill in the picture below is Mt Paku.
Next up was some inland driving up the Peninsula, which was primarly forest. Had to stop and take a photo with these two trees, appropriately named the "Twin Kauris".
They make me look short, eh?
The town of Purangi doesn't have much more than a rustic Winery with an owner who talks a million words a minute, pours you shot glass after shot glass of generous wine/cider/liqueur tastings, and makes fun of just about every nationality of tourist. Quite amusing!
(yes, all those bottles were offered to us as tastings. hell no, we didn't drink them all)
We bought a bottle of Feijoa Cider. Taaaaasty!
The weather was still kind of dodgy Saturday afternoon, so we kept to the city touristy things and saved the beach for Sunday. We took the ferry over to Whitianga, a larger city (4000 people). The ten minute ferry ride saved about 45 minutes of boring windy driving through the forest.
The tiny passenger ferry boat coming to pick us up!
I do not envy this man's job. He drives this boat all day long back and forth, back and forth. Ten mins one way, turn around, ten minutes another. Boring! Poor man. :(
Here's the other end of Whitianga Harbour. Weather bomb left these dreary clouds around.
We wandered around some shops and galleries in downtown Whitianga, and ducked into a cafe for a coffee to escape a sudden burst of wind and rain.
Next stop was Hahei Beach, where we stayed the night.
My take at artistic photography--- pohutakawa trees by the beach.
On top of a Maori pa overlooking the other end of Hahei beach.
A pre-dinner snack--- the Feijoa Cider purchased from Purangi Estate Winery, and GREEN cheese!
The green cheese was pesto flavored, made in the Netherlands, but purchased in a gourmet food shope in Whitianga. Dee-licious aroma and taste!
The weather bomb fizzled out Saturday night, and left us with a beautiful forecast for Sunday.
Sunday's first stop--- Hot Water Beach!
So why do I have a shovel in my hand? Because at Hot Water Beach, there are undergroud reservoirs of super hot water left by volcanos. Over time, this water seeps to the surface. Two of the fissures are right on the beach. So, if you go here around low tide, and start digging, you can dig yourself a personal spa pool!
Look at all the people digging!
I brought my own personal digger :)
Ahhh! Hot pool relaxation!
Some of the water seeping in was TOO hot!
It can reach temperatures of up to 64 degrees C(147 degrees F!)!
After a nice hot pool soak, we headed to Cathedral Cove, one of the most beautiful beaches I've ever seen. Check out this rock formation!
Absolutely stunning!
This beach is fairly remote as well-- it's only accessible by a 30-40 minute walk or kayak trip. And what do you know, of all places to see someone, I ran into my friend/tourguide Nick here, who was filming a kayak tour! Small world!
Here's a view again of Hahei Beach--- even prettier after the weather bomb.
After some quality beach time (and an obligatory ice cream cone!), we headed the drive back to Tauranga. On the way back we stopped at Broken Hills for what was supposed to be a short walk with some mine tunnels to walk through. It ended up being a 2 hour gutbuster walk with a tunnel 500 meters long through the mine. NOT cruisey.
We were prepared and brought a flashlight, but I was quite cranky after hitting my head on the hard stone tunnel ceiling! (should've brought my hardhat)
At least some of these were on the track to keep my belly happy :)
So the second trip to the Coromandel was great, despite a nasty weather forecast predicted.
Lesson learned: life's too short to sit at home at the advice of meteorologists!
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