The Coromandel Peninsula on the east coast of New Zealand is a feast for the eyes. The scenery changes from goldmining towns that resemble the mid-west in USA to small coastal towns set into hills overlooking beautiful and secluded beaches. Our first stop was Hot Water Beach, famous for it's hot springs and warm water that sits at just a spade's dig away from the surface of the beach.
Spurred on by photos of tourists clad in bathing suits, laughing cheerfully as they sunbathed whilst sat in holes full of hot water, us and a group of Japanese tourists began digging frantically. Unfortunately it was high tide so the beach was not hot and the water was carrying a distinct winter chill. Not to be disheartened, we scrambled over the rocks to search for the hot springs where even the Japanese tourists wouldn't risk a photo. Half an hour later, we realised we were being hemmed in by the tide and, with awful images of cockle pickers, we battled our way
to the safety of the van. From here we headed to Hahei beach and, taking advantage of the rain-free evening, we wondered to the beach where we watched the sunset disappear over the sea with a bottle of New Zealand red wine donated by Auntie Maureen. By the time night descended we were a little worse for wear and it was a rather undignified scramble up the sand dunes to fight the gorse back to the holiday camp!
After a lazy start that next day where all we needed was the Sunday Times to complete our lie-in and agonise over our hangovers, we decided to trek to Cathedral Cove - alledgedly the highlight of the Coromandel. Not to be put off by the rain (or thumping heads) that seemed to have every intention of making our snowboarding jackets look like wetsuits, we donned our 'waterproof' gear and started on the mammoth 15k hike. The walk was lovely and we imagine in the summer it would be even more picturesque as we huffed and puffed our way through glens of ferns and groves of Puriri trees. The rain continued to fall and it after an hour it began to feel as if someone was emptying a swimming pool continuously on our heads.
Cathedral Cove was worth every single wet and windy mile though. Set in a marine nature reserve, the wind and sea has eroded the rock to create a triangular hole, perfectly framing the pretty little cove - a photographer's dream and a naturist's playgroud. Caked in mud, wet through and with most of our other clothes dirty, we decided to embark on a mammoth washing session at the campsite launderete. Slightly shortsighted as it turned out because we had to drive to the next campsite practically naked but for our towels wrapped around us. Despite the cover of nightfall, we still got extremely strange looks from the campsite office - probably concerned we had confused their campsite with a naturist site!
Coromandel town, namesake of the peninsula, is a gorgeous if sleepy little seaside town but bizarrely boosting a myriad of stylish design centres that line the main street.
Weta Design is a great example of the ingenious kiwi crafts and Beth wanted to buy the whole shop until Steve pointed out the we were already carrying around a Brazilian hammock that would cost us more to send back than it did to buy! Beth saw his point.
Following the coastal road all the way to Auckland, we settled into a campsite there and had sweet dreams filled with a kaleidoscope of images from the Coromandel Peninsula.
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