Leaving Hobbiton behind to the small coastal area known as the Coromandel.
We stopped at Paeroa, home of the giant L&P bottle – L&P being New Zealand’s answer to Iron Bru on the popularity stakes, but lemon in flavour. Unfortunately the giant bottle that is meant to celebrate the local drink is now a reminder of how small industry has shut down, as production has moved to Auckland since being taken over by Coca-Cola.
Our route took us along a stretch of road between Waihi & Paeroa, touted by the Lonely Planet as the best short drive in the country. It’s a bold claim given the huge amount of competition, but around halfway we stopped at Karangahake, an old mining area. Our walk through an old railway tunnel seemed endless (it is in fact 1,100 metres). At least it is dimly lit by some overhead lights as the other end of the tunnel stays small for a very long time. The walk loops back along the river with a spectacular view of the winding road hugging the cliff.
Into the Coromandel we camped at Hot Water Beach. This is a place that has been to the Aussie school of naming, homeas it is to a beach with extremely hot thermal waster. The done thing here is to take your spade two hours either side of low tide and dig out your own jacuzzi. On approach it’s very clear to figure hot where the hot water is, there are swarms of people packed into a small section of a much larger stretch of sand. The steam rises from the stand and as we walked into the middle it was burning hot, fat to hot to stand in, so we retreated to the edge & began to dig. Fortunately some people nearby had their fill of sitting in their hole, so like a cuckoo we stole into someone else’s predug hole. Just a few modifications were required to deepen our hole & channel in a steady stream of warm water. As we left we Passed our hole onto an older couple struggling to dig with their fold up spade taking full credit for the whole (hole) creation.
One of the iconic images of the Coromandel is Cathedral Cove, with the perfectly positioned cave framing the large rock, a photography mecca to rival ThatWanakaTree. With the car park closed for the summer we thought there might be less people willing to trek from Hahei beach, however there were still plenty of people there when we arrived. However as the sun set only a couple of people with tripods were left & we completed the return walk by the light of the phone. I left Jess to enjoy a backpacker happy hour as I focused on the sunset.
For our penultimate full day in NZ we drove a coastal loop. Lunching in Whitianga by the beach, passing through the town of Coromandel and finding one last gravel road to traverse back to the campsite.
The return drive to Auckland was mainly notable for the Ice cream parlour at Pokeno. With 40 flavours to choose from we could have spent a week here. There was an old chap who said he stops every time he’s passing through. The scoops are enormous (the picture is a double scoop), but I successfully navigated the challenge without incident.
We stayed the night in the Parnell district of Auckland. Stopping to climb Mount Eden on the way in, it’s a giant volcanic crater with views across the city. I also took a walk up to the War Memorial Museum, again up another hill with more views of the city & Eden park cricket ground.
An early start in the morning to drop the hire car back at the airport and out time in New Zealand was at an end. Five weeks of driving (6,128km), hiking, scenery and campsites. We takeaway some fabulous memories and the knowledge there is still more to see whenever we might find the time to return.
The Ottners 