The Coromandel

The final part of our 3 week tour of the North island would finish with a 3 day run around the Coromandel, an area with some key highlights and walks.

After drive round from Opotoki that morning and stopping in Mount Manganui we decided to stop at the bottom of the Coromandel peninsula at an old gold mining region - the Karangahake Gorge. We explored the local gorge that afternoon and were again amazed at yet another type of scenery and layout of the land, from beaches to gorges and wild rivers. The remnants of the once gold boom in the mid to late 1800's were still littering the gorge and it was impressive to see how much it changed the landscape. The walk took us along the old railway line that linked the gorge to Waihi, the nearby gold hub. 


The 1Km tunnel was a little scary in places, especially when the lights were not working or Kip decided to scream and scare the life out of me!


We went back to our little hostel for the night and got talking to the owners and would you believe it the man had his own personal wood work shop (or more aptly named man cave). Well it would be rude not to have a look, so after dinner I rushed down there like a school kid and did some wood turning and made a rolling pin, for the local art class !

Look at that beak !!

The next morning we were off and heading north, up the east coast of the coromandel peninsula. Our first stop was a beach at Whangamata, where we strolled on the beach and rewarded ourselves with a local pie - lush! We drove a little further on and stopped at another beach called Opoutere beach, which had a typical sandy white beach but also an inland nature reserve with a number of local birds, so we decided to see what all the fuss was about. It was an ok walk until we accidentally stumbled across a bird's (The Variable Oystercatcher's) nest, along the estuary. We thought the bird was over reacting a little when it started uncontrollably squawking at us, so i decided to walk on and avoid the birds. BIG MISTAKE. The bird decided to chase me on the ground and then when I turned round to see if I had made sufficient ground, it flew at my face - TWICE. Right, that was the end of the walk and back to the car, quick sharp! Lesson learned, don't mess with the Oystercatcher, especially considering the size of it's beak!


After this traumatic experience we headed further north to one of my favorite places so far, Tairua. This was a little village based on an coastal inlet/tidal lake. So it had the beauty of the sea, but also the nice feel of the lake. We walked round the lake and up the nearby Mount Paku to get a better view of the surroundings. Wow, what a view! Could quite easily join the various Aucklander's who buy a little summer holiday rental pad here.

After this we were pretty tired so drove on to where we would be staying that night, a little place called Hahei. Nothing much to note in the town, but it was the surrounding areas that held the sights.


The next morning we grabbed a shovel each and headed to hot water beach. Now no prizes for guessing what its attraction was. We arrived just before low tide and walked along to find what all the fuss was about. As you can guess, due to the volcanic nature of the entire place there are spots where the thermals below come close to the surface. After a little while we found out where and started to dig our feet into th sand. It was HOT, you actually needed the cool sea to wash over and provide some relief, otherwise you could get burnt feet. You can stick around and dig large pools and create your own thermal bath, but with the crowds building, we decided to leave and head on.

Our next stop was Cathedral cove, a 45 minute walk to a secluded cove with an impressive rock corridor. 














After this we headed west to Whitianga, where we took a 4 hour class on traditional carving. We both made a carving for each other and I can tell you, it is a lot harder than it looks. They use cow bones and provide you with a blank piece for you to create a design. Luckily there were some ideas for you to get your inspiration from. After a few hours I was wondering how it would turn out, but they weren't too bad! With our new jewellery made, we pushed on west to our final nights stay on the Coromandel (and in the North Island), in Coromandel Town.


This was a quiet little place with some amazing coves/bays and mini-peninsulas upon which were perched many rental homes that all had our name on them. A nice laid back feel to the place and a great place to reflect on our trip to the Coromandel region and our first 3 weeks in New Zealand. We couldn't believe that tomorrow we would be leaving for the South island - boo!


Reluctantly we got up and packed up our car of all our crap that was strewn over the back seats and boot from the last 3 weeks, no mean feat i can tell you. So a long drive to Auckland, but we had all days our flight wasn't until 3pm. We arrived back and returned the car and headed to the terminal for our flight to Christchurch.

The East Cape

This leg of our journey would see us travel round the North Island's East cape all the way round and up to the Coromandel. 


We decided to skip a trip to the local village with the world's longest name, as we wouldn't be able to pronounce it, but here is how it is spelt. Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamatateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu

The first stop was a stay in the Te Urewera Nationla Park, one of the biggest National Parks in the North island, with the intention of going on the various walks. We were not disappointed, it took us 3/4 of an hour to drive, on gravel roads, just to the start of the walking tracks, this place was massive. 


The lake that sits in the middle of the national park was so clear and still it was hard to believe it wasn't a postcard. We enjoyed only a few of the walks in the park in the afternoon, up to one of the lakes that was perched 900m above sea level. This lake was pretty cool as it had an island in the middle of it, with a lake in that (so a lake within a lake), sadly we couldn't get across to see it. We stayed the night just outside the park and then returned the next morning for a short walk before heaing back onto the main highway to continue East.


Our next brief stop was Gisborne, one of the larger towns along the north east cape. A little trivia, but this was one of the first places that Captain Cook saw 'land' and stopped in a near by cove to begin his travels of New Zealand. After a short stop and browse round the shops we pushed on up the coast to a small town called Tokomaru, a once bustling port, but now more a cosy ghost town. We based ourselves in Tokomaru for a few nights and decided to explore the local bays and coast line. We drove to Anaura in the morning and Waipiro bay in the afternoon, both just lovely, relaxed walks along the coast the beach.


This whole coast is the road less travelled and that was evident by the hostels and lack of, well signs of any life at all. The costal road was lovely and when the weather made it's mind up and stopped raining we managed to get some lovely views of the various bays and rugged coasts.


After our few nights stop in Tokomaru we set off early to the East Cape, the easterly most point in New Zealand. After a run in with the local farmer and his dogs herding his cattle down the single track gravel road we managed to get to the base of the hill on which the lighthouse stood. A short sharp 45 minute walk up the 700 steps and we were at the top.


With little en route to see apart from the rugged scenery and a nice little coffee shop on a macadamia nut farm, we pushed on toward civilisation to a place called Opotoki, where we stopped for the night. 

We decided to take a nice stroll on the beach, before it got cold/dark but were a little dumbfounded to see that the little bits of drift wood that had washed up were a lot more than we expected! The wood you see in the picture has been washed down stream, from inland, where they have lots of timber forests. The television though is a mystery....!

The final leg of our East Cape journey was to continue from Opotki round the northern part of th cape towards Mount Manganui. First though we swung through a nice beach town called Whakatane. This was coming quite a habit, but it was nicety just stop at random beaches, take a long walk, get our toes wet and then get back in the car and continue on our way.

So the end of our East Cape trip was in Mount Manganui. Definitely not a ghost town and a great surf type town with a young atmosphere. It also helped that the sun was shining! We walked on a number of the local beaches here and then took a stroll round the little town, before returning to the beach to see the surfers do there stuff, pretty impressive! 


So an interesting view into a different side to the North Island, we both really felt that this showed us a side to New Zealand that was in the past, tone which were once bustling ports and wharfs, now ghost towns with a fraction of the inhabitants left. A long but scenic drive, but well worth the detour from the main track.

Hastings & Napier

After our successful trek we were now heading East, toward the coast to Hastings and Napier. This was about a 2/3 hour drive toward Taupo and then south east to the coast. The drive was again just stunning, the first part a mass of pine forests and then into twisty, turney roads through hills, fields and farm land. I lost count at the number of cows and sheep there were along the way, needless to say there were a lot. Although there is a lot more dairy farming than sheep, which surprised me, but according to my sources (Coralie) there has been a big shift.


We arrived in Hastings mid afternoon and took a short trip to the sea, a little bay called Te Awanga. We then headed in to Hastings to meet up and stay with an amazing lady by the name of Coralie Curtis. Coralie welcomed us into her home with open arms and Kip and I felt for the first time since we left in September that we were at home. We spent the most amazing few days as guests of Coralie's and were spoilt rotten (Thank you Coralie!).


The next day we headed out for a day trip to nearby Napier, the Art Deco capital of New Zealand. What a place! After the wars and various earthquakes in the early 1900's (ish) Napier had been left in disrepair, so with the opportunity to rebuild large areas of this port town, architects set to work rebuilding in the Art Deco style. The results still remain to day and are great to see (mum and dad, you would love the place!).


The following  day was spent driving the local surrounds of Hastings. First stop was a great view point called Te Mata peak, where you can get a full 360 panorama of the area. Then to a lovely beach called Waimaramra, followed by a few wineries on the way back (well why not!).

That afternoon we spent at our new 'home from home', just pottering around in the garden, before having an awesome BBQ; and I have to say that the best sausages I have ever had (lamb & apricot).


Sadly we had to force ourselves to leave, otherwise we would have moved in and never left. So back on the road, our next port was to travel up around Hawke's Bay and the entire Eastern cape. We had heard that this route was not the road most travelled, but we were about to find out.






Oh yeah, i almost fogot, we stumbled across another Camberley and Frimley - would you believe it.

The 3 T's (Taupo, Turangi and Tongariro)

So after leaving Rotorua early, we headed south to Taupo (apparently now pronounced toe-paw). This is a lovely town situated in the middle of the North island and is perched on the northern edge of a massive lake, aptly named ....Lake Taupo.


We arrived in Taupo and stopped briefly to see the local cycle race event, a 160km relay race around lake Taupo. Then continued on to a smaller town called Turangi, found at the southern end of lake Taupo. We stayed in a lovely backpackers place and started reading up on the Tongariro crossing, our next challenge!


The Tongariro crossing is a 19.4km (7/8 hour) hike up the side, over and back down an extinct volcano with some amazing views. However the reason for arriving earlier than planned was due to the weather conditions. It is so unpredictable that you could spend days waiting to do the crossing and miss the opportunity. We planned to do it on the Sunday and are so pleased we did, because the saturday was cold and windy and the Monday it was closed!


So Sunday morning we were up early and got our transfer to the start point. We arrived at 08:15 and were very fortunate with the weather; clear, warm and dry ! The first 4-6 Km were a slow, long climb up hill, with a section called the 'devil's steps' to reach the flat section at the top. As you can imagine we were both breathing rather swiftly when we got to the top. We decided to skip the optional 3 hour climb up the side of the volcano crater.

The walk and views from the top part were amazing. Walking through the alpine desert with snow still on the ground was pretty cool. The scenery just got better the more we walked. The highest point we reached had some stunning views and you could look back toward the red crater and the extinct volcano or forward to the blue lake and emerald lakes below.

We continued on, now down steep slopes, toward the lakes to get a closer look at them. We stopped half way down the shingle slope and had our lunch and took in the scenery.


After this we then started the decent back to the pick up point. For some reason we found this the harder part of the trek, 7-8 Km down hill was a killer on the legs and feet. Anyway, we made the entire trip in glorious weather and without a blister in sight, an amazing trek and one that we are lucky to have had the opportunity to do.

Rotorua

After leaving Auckland and the comfort of a 'home', we were back on the road and heading south for Rotorua. This was a special place for 2 reasons. The first being home to a range of volcanic and geothermal hot springs; the second for seeing the Maori traditions.

We arrived after a short-ish drive and settled into a our hostel.  That night we were booked to attend a traditional Maori evening and meal (Hangi). I was a bit sceptical at first and thought it might be a tad touristy, but it was such an enjoyable evening. 

We were treated by the traditional welcome by the Maori tribe with the Haka and posturing of intimidating dance (lots of grunts, eyes and tongues). We were shown round a village, traditional song and dances and then the lifting of the Hangi from the ground. 

A Hangi is the Maori way of cooking food. Dig a big pit and line it with a fire and hot lava rocks, place food over the top in racks, cover and then bury with soil. The result is a lot of food cooked slowly in the heat. Well we both had a lot of food and that night, all of it amazing. (Kip had 2 main courses and i had 2 desserts, of course!). However the highlight of the night was the bus journey home, when a convoy of 4 coaches went round the main roundabout in town with everyone singing "she'll be coming round the mountain, when she comes...." (kinda had to be there I suppose).

 The next day in Rotorua was spent visiting the geothermal pools, lakes and features that are all around the town. These were quite impressive, if not very smelly. All throughout Rotorua there is the smell of sulphur and rotten eggs [cue: various farting jokes]! The thermal pools had a mix of geysers, multicoloured lakes and history on how the region and islands were formed.

Our final day was a bit different to what we had planned. We were anticipating spending one more night in Rotorua, but in the coming days we wanted to do the Tongariro Crossing (more of this later), this meant leaving for a new town sooner than we thought. Although before we left I managed to squeeze in a few hours mountain biking in the local redwood forest. Apparently a must do for biking; and I wasn't disappointed, the biking was amazing (if not knackering!).