Final Days in NZ: The Coromandel Peninsula

We actually got to Thailand late last night, but before we start filling you in on SE Asia, I wanted to post a few photos from our final days in NZ.  We spent them on the Coromandel Peninsula, which is a couple hours drive from Auckland and full of beach towns, surfers, and scenery.  We had a great time, including a visit with a friend I made in Europe in 2000 and hadn't seen since, who had just moved there with her husband.  The world really is a small place.  Anyway, here's a few shots from our two days there.

Our first stop was Hahei, which is adjacent to one of the peninsula's most famous attractions, Cathedral Cove.  For the first time in ages we decided not to make a reservation in advance and drove into Hahei about 5 pm looking for a room.  And ended up sleeping in a six bed dorm.  Lesson learned.  The beach in Hahei is gorgeous, though we didn't make it up to Cathedral Cove.

Next stop, Hot Water Beach.  At one end of the beach is surfing.

At the other end of the beach is another tourist fave - for a couple hours on each side of low tide you can dig a hole along the shore line and hot water comes up from below, another of the North Island's thermal delights.  Another opportunity we skipped - we were there at 11 am and had tracks to make before low tide five hours later.

We thought 'National Park' was a bad name for a town.  A close second is 'Ferry Landing' where there is (you guessed it) a ferry landing and the fantastic Eggs-centric Cafe set in a lovely garden with delicious homemade food.  It doesn't look like much at first, but Chad had his best savoury pie of the trip there.  If you're anywhere near the area, you need to stop there for lunch - and apparently the co-owner sometimes serenades you on guitar if you arrive for dinner.

Yes, I'm having another pie.  What of it?

Up the coast in Whitianga, we stayed at this cute backpackers hostel on the beach.  Our room had a view of the bay!

Not the actual view, but you get the idea.

Coromandel also has a new brewery - we tried to visit it, but it is in a shed attached to a private home and is not open to the public. We bought several bottles of their beer, however, and it is delicious.  On the way to visit the brewery we took one of our windiest roads yet along a bluff leading from Whitianga to a little adjacent town.  The mostly one lane, washed out in parts, gravel road has a cliff on one side and a drop into the ocean on the other.  It had fantastic views but was definitely not the place to be in what we thought was an impending rain storm.  It was a nail biter!  Too bad we didn't get any beer relief on arrival.

The next day we headed to Coromandel Town, where we wandered about, ate pies, visited beaches, and relaxed.  

A cute little smoke shop in a cute little town.  Chad tried their (apparently delicious) smoked mussels.

Perhaps the most exciting part of the day was my chance to try my first pie.  Savoury pies are huge in Australia and New Zealand, but I had been unable to find one that was both veggie and non-nutty.  Until then.

The bakery where the magic happens.

Hello, spinach, olive, and feta pie!

We tried a couple beaches to see if we could swim, but at low tide our options were limited.  This beach was nice, but after we got in our bathing suits we went to walk in the water and noticed a bunch of spiky sea urchins along the shore.  We decided the sand would be a safer place for us and our poor feet.

And finally, back to Auckland to return our rental car and catch our flight to Vancouver.

We had an amazing time in New Zealand - definitely a highlight of our year and highly recommended by the McFrothys!