Coromandel Peninsula

We spent the days in between Christmas and New Years on the Coromandel Peninsula (as did many New Zealanders – it’s a local favorite for the holidays, so it was particularly crowded). At least to us, the Coromandel Peninsula was a lesser known area and we didn’t quite know what to expect, aside from beautiful beaches. The area definitely exceeded expectations and to anyone who has a few extra days to explore the North Island, we’d highly recommend checking it out.

The Pinnacles Track

A 10.3 mi, 3,200 ft gain hike, located in the Coromandel Forest that had one of the steepest sections of hiking we’ve ever encountered! The trail followed an old mining trail through the bush and ended at The Pinnacles, huge pointed rock formations. The last part of the hike included ladders and lots of rock scrambling.

Fletcher Bay

The drive to Fletcher Bay was without a doubt the scariest drive we’ve ever done. We were driving along smoothly until we reached a gravel road; Google Maps said we only had about 20 miles left of driving, but it was predicted to take 1.5 hours. There was no way we thought that could be true, but alas, one hour later, we were still on the road. The road was a narrow, windy, one-lane gravel road right along the steep coast with no barriers. Despite it being early, cars were already coming in the opposite direction, including locals who were careening down the road at 40mph (compared to our 15). Thankfully, we arrived at the beach safe and sound, although extremely dusty…trying not to think about the fact that we’d have to do the return trip later that day. By the end of the day, however, we thought the frightening drive was worth it. At Fletcher Bay, we did:

• Coromandel Coastal Walkway: This hike was, as the name would suggest, a beautiful trail following the rugged coastline. Lots of ups and downs made for tired legs (especially after just having completed Pinnacles the previous day), but the views were worth it!

• Beach: After the hike, we changed into our suits and hopped into the water to cool off. Kay went for a quick dip while Hans body-boarded with the kiddos. It was a beautiful beach and we realized we could’ve actually camped there, opportunity missed! We were jealous of the many people who didn’t have to leave this paradise after just one day.

Hahei

A small “town” on the east side of the peninsula that is home to:

• Cathedral Cove: absolutely recommend this to anyone going to Coromandel! Getting there is a bit of a project – during peak season, you have to park in a lot a few blocks from town and from there, you can either take a shuttle to the trailhead or you can walk. There are two routes for walking – up a large residential hill or a slightly less steep beachside hike. You can probably guess which route we’d recommend! The shuttle was at least $5/person and there were hordes of people waiting for it, so better to just walk. Even if you do take the shuttle, you still have a substantial walk down to the beach / cove. The walk down was longer than we were expecting and had some decent climbs, but well worth it! The beach itself was marvelous, with towering walls surrounding sandy beaches. The centerpiece was a short wide cave, perfectly framing the bright blue water and endless beaches beyond.

• Hot Water Beach: this beach was slightly underwhelming, but entertaining anthropologically. The beach is famous for its geothermal waters. People dig large holes in the sand, forming natural hot pools. We had imagined the entire beach would be open for us to dig our pool, but in fact, it’s a pretty small area that has the geothermal activity, so hundreds of people are huddled together almost body to body in their little hot baths. Not as relaxing as we pictured, but memorable.

Whangamata

We went for a nice morning kayak to Donut Island just off the shore of Whangamata. You enter a small cave to get to the center of the island where you’re surrounded by steep cliffs that form a circle about 50 yards across (we’re trying to describe a doughnut shaped island…). We were sea kayaking, so it was a bit rough, but we didn’t have too many troubles until we came back to shore. Just as we were about to hit land, one wave turned us just slightly sideways and before we knew it we were parallel to the shore and the next wave completely flipped us. Luckily this was in about 2 feet of water, but we felt pretty silly and scrambled to collect all of our floating belongings. One of the guides saw it happen and promised it happens pretty often, although we didn’t see any other groups have any issues…Our guide actually happened to be a nice guy from Seattle that we met at our hostel in Auckland during our first week and we’ve been keeping in touch since!