New Zealand - March 2004 - Coromandel

NEW ZEALAND

North Island

March 2004

Land of the Kiwis.....

After I finally navigated my way out of Aukland, I headed over the the Coromandel Peninsula. Before heading up the peninsula, I broke the drive with a stop at Kauaeranga Forest for a few short walks.

Swing bridge over the Kauaeranga River on the Tarawaere Dam trail. At the foot of this bridge, was a warning that the bridge capacity was 1 person. I wasn't sure if that meant one "normal weight" person and if I would plunge to my death if I crossed it. I decided to tempt fate and cross. When I got across, the end of the bridge was bolted into a cliff, and I had about a 2.5 foot drop to the ground. I wasn't sure I would be able to get back on the bridge on the return trip and contemplated turning around, but decided to "cross that bridge" on the return trip. Since I'm able to post this story, it must mean that I made it out ok.
View of stream from the Hoffman's Pool trail at Kauaeranga.

Much of the Coromandel Peninsula consists of narrow, unpaved, curvy, mountain roads where you meet very big, fast, scary logging trucks.

My car rental agreement prohibited me from driving on unpaved roads, because they are so narrow and full of logging trucks. It took me a whopping 3 hours before I decided to break the rental agreement.

And this is the result of all the logging

West coast of the Coromandel Peninsula

Rolling hills on the west coast of the Coromandel Peninsula
(another example of a "prohibited" road)
Driving Creek Railway near Coromandel Town
This railway is owned by an artist who built the railway to bring clay and firewood for fuel to his pottery workshop. He's turned it into a tourist attraction. His pottery wasn't to my taste, but the railway provided some spectacular views of the bays and harbors along the east coast of the peninsula.
Moving statues at Waiau Waterworks
Giant spider along the 309 Road
Twin Kauri trees at the Waiau Kauri Grove

Waiau Falls
Waiau Falls without me blocking the view

The east coast of the Coromandel Peninsula, overlooking Hahei beach and Mercury Bay on the hike to Cathedral Cove. I spent 3 nights at a bed and breakfast at Hahei. I selected this location for the proximity to Cathedral Cove. In fact, I planned the entire New Zealand trip based on seeing a picture of Cathedral Cove. I decided it was someplace that I wanted to see. I wasn't disappointed.
From Hahei Beach, the walk to Cathedral Cove took you over several ridges and down to a couple of different bays. This picture is taken from the first ridge, looking back at Hahei Beach.This picture is at the top of the second ridge, looking towards Sail Rock on walk to Cathedral Cove.
Once I came down from third ridge, I arrived at Mare's Leg Cove. You can only go through the Cathedral during low tide.

This view of Cathedral Cove and Sail Rock was the whole reason I decided to visit New Zealand. This was a perfect day too (considering it rained for the previous 2 days).

I spent a couple of hours on the beach enjoying the view and relaxing. It was very strange to me the number of people who made the walk to the beach, took 2-3 snapshots, then hurried off to the next site to visit.
Mercury Bay Island
Shags on rocks
Not too far from Hahei beach was Hot Water Beach. During low tide, you can dig in the sand to find the hot springs beneath and sit in a sandy hot tub. I thought about trying this, but it was cold and rainy during most of the days (and used the nice low tide day to visit Cathedral Cove). These crazy German tourists didn't seem to mind that it was rainy and only 65 F degrees out.
Sunset at Whaler's Cove