We left just after 9.0am and made our way to Tairua where there was a great stone and gemstone shop. We bought a couple of small stones but no gems unfortunately! After coffee and a quick trip to the public dump station, we drove up to Hahei and parked up to go to Cathedral Cove. We have never been before and as it is unlikely we will visit NZ again, we thought we should see this famous landmark. You have to park in the specified car park at Hahei and either walk all the way or get a shuttle bus to the start of the track. The bus is $5 pp and we did that as it is still 45 mins each way. The path is paved until the very last section when there are 142 steps down to the beach. The steps are good with a hand rail and non slip surface attached to them.
We set off in the rain with waterproof jackets on, but it soon stopped and then we were really overdressed! I tied mine round my waist. It was warm and very humid and I was soon dripping, good acclimatisation for Vietnam next week maybe!! The walk goes down then up then down again mainly through the native bush forest, with a few interesting flowers on the way.
It was worth the walk to see this arch, even though it was not good weather for photos. There were a lot of people around considering it is out of the main holiday season and a poor day weatherwise, but I suppose, like us, they were going to go whatever the weather.
After some lunch in the van, in the car park, we set off north to Matarangi Bay via Whitianga . There is a freedom camping spot by the boat launch and it was lovely when we arrived. Just us and and couple of others, however we are now cheek by jowl with other campervans!! This has never happened before and if we had arrived when some of these others did, we would have turned around and found somewhere else. It is an approved Council site but not for the numbers parked now, I think! We will see what happens when the Council come to check.....which they do!
We made a decision this evening and we are booked into a v good holiday park on the Firth of Thames for the next two nights prior to handing back the van. So tomorrow we will drive across th Peninsula and South .
For those who don’t know, The Coromandel Peninsula is quite mountainous and the roads are hilly and twisting with lovely bays and small towns and villages in between.
Before we were invaded!
Weather: grey skies, we haven’t seen the top of a hill for almost a week. Damp!
Total km 120
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