Last weekend we took a short trip to the Coromandel Peninsula with a bunch of our friends. We were 5 families with grandparents, toddlers, babies, parents and all! To say the least, it was a blast!
We started from Auckland around 6am on Saturday morning. With a short stop at the Bombay autobahn and McDonald’s for breakfast, we continued on to Hahei to see the Cathedral Cove. About a 40 minute walk through the bush, to the beach. This beach is breathtakingly beautiful! I now understand why they chose it as one of the sites for the Chronicles of Narnia – Prince Caspian movie. we spent about 90 minutes there before wee started the track back to the car park.
From there we were off to Hot water beach… Another one of this worlds marvels! Hot water actually flows from the sand. People go there, dig holes in the sand and lounge in the calming hot water for hours. When things get too hot, it’s time for a quick dip in the crystal clear, cool water of the pacific ocean. A whelming experience like no other.
After a long day’s travel, Whitianga’s Harbor view Holiday park was just close enough to not be a tiring drive. There we had a place to relax, splash in the pool, a play area for the kids and so much more. Arno’s very innovative BBQ trailer was just big enough to cater for all our Afrikaner appetites, not to mention all the salads and pap and sous that the ladies made. By 10:00 pm everyone was in be after a long, fun day.
The next morning we all had a very nice Valentines breakfast together and by 10:00 am we were on our way to explore the 309 gold miners road and it’s treasures. The first stop was a complete dud. The Honey center on 309 was more like the honey outhouse. This little waste of time is barely big enough to house 2 people standing upright.
Next stop would have been the Kauri tree hike, unfortunately it was raining too much for the hike and all the kids, so on we drove to the waterfall. What a beauty! Too bad only Nicol and I got to see it. Thanks to the very misleading information board, no-one else took on the 1 hour (more like 2 minutes) round trip. The water was freezing.
From there we stopped in Coromandel town for Lunch and then we were off to the Driving creek railway. This is a must see and do for anyone going to the Coromandel. Almost 4:00pm and we hit the road back home. To say the least the drive from Coromandel town to Thames is absolutely stunning.
Tags: cathedral Cove, Coromandel, hot water beach, Whitianga
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