This morning we said goodbye to Auckland and headed east to the Coromandel Peninsula. Again we were surprised by the weather – it really does rain in NZ – despite all our previous experiences. Not heavy, but enough to make wandering a damp prospect. Lucky it was a driving day. We drove to Thames – commiserated with the queues of people on the motorway going into Auckland as we left. We listened to the new favourite podcast (Serial) and admired some lovely countryside through breaks in the rain.
Thames would have diverted us longer if it wasn’t damp but as it was, the iSite ladies had some good advice and we changed our route to try our luck on the east coast. Thames to Hahei via Tairua saw us arriving at (one of) the area’s premier picture perfect locations – Cathedral Cove just as the rain began to lift.
We drove up to the carpark – only to find no room at the inn, so parked at the foot of the hill and tramped up to the carpark, and down the other side of the headland to a secluded (geographically anyway) beach with an arch in the rocks at one end – hence the name.
The beach was full. Families, couples, backpackers, tourists – young and old – had all trekked 40 mins down from the carpark to this haven. Some photos here which hardly do it justice.
The it was up and over again, and back on the road to the west coast of the peninsula to our stop for the night in Coromandel Town. We chose to go directly across – via the ‘309’ an unsealed (but well maintained – thank you Thames iSite lady) road back through Coromandel forest park. An hour later we were checked in and relaxing on the balcony of the Harbour view motel. A day well spent.
The Obligatory Blog 