Week 27 Napier to Coromandel, New Zealand

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As I had to get up anyway for a long day of travel between Napier and Mount Maunganui (MM from now on) which is on the coast next to the city of Tauranga, I set the alarm a bit earlier and watched the dawn, so I was among the first people in the World to see the sky lighten, turn golden and the sun come out. It was a good thing that I did, as an hour and a half later black rain clouds had covered the sky.

The route took us back into the centre of the North Island and we made several stops to pick up and drop off people at some of the towns I had already visited on my way South, including Taupo and Rotorua. At the start of the trip we travelled through mountains with the usual twisting and turning roads, mainly covered in forest, some of which was natural bush and some was planted pine. The largest man-made forest on the southern hemisphere covers much of this central area and its the fifth most profitable industry in the country, employing over 35,000 people. You could see the different stages of growth from freshly felled through to full grown. Interestingly, after they have taken away any commercially viable logs, they chop up the remaining wood and branches and leave it in rows, then plant the new saplings between so that the rotting waste fertilises the new growth, which is far better than the fire-clearance that used to happen.

The only real stop of note was at the excellent Wai-O-Tapu (meaning Sacred Waters) Thermal Wonderland, a large area with a variety of geothermal sites all very different to each other and all pretty impressive. I took masses of photographs as the colours in some of the hot bubbling pools kept changing under the cloudy skies. Those skies looked extremely threatening, so I wisely (as it turned out) chose to only to do the 40 minute walk which took in the majority of the different types of pool. The rain started just 3 minutes before I got to the end which wasn’t too bad, as those people doing the hour walk came back dripping.

All of the sites had that delightful rotten egg aroma and some steam, but apart from that they were all very different, with a variety of bubbling mud, active and collapsed craters, high pressure steam vents, multi-coloured mineral deposits, bubbling waters, brightly coloured rocks, vibrant coloured lakes and lastly geysers, which unfortunately only blow once or twice a day and not while we were there. The route I took started at a whole bunch of craters, some up to 50 metres in diameter and 20 metres deep - Devil’s Home, Rainbow Crater, Thunder Crater and lastly I swung by the Devil’s Ink Pots. Most of these had bubbling mud and multi-coloured minerals in patches or layers on the walls. For you scientists (or nerds) - purple was manganese oxide, red and brown were ferrous oxide and of course the yellow sulphur.

On one side of the wooden boardwalk was the Primrose Terrace, full of silica and covering a huge 3 acre site. The other side takes you to various points to view the amazing Artist’s Palette, where the water overflows from the Champagne Pool. This is the most dramatic place as clouds of steam drift over the whole area and there is the full rainbow of colours in different areas of the water. The science bit is that the hot water draws up minerals that originate below the earth’s surface. As the waters cool and the minerals are exposed to the atmosphere they show themselves in a variety of locations and colours depending on the water level and wind direction. As this day was windy, you could see drifts of water changing colour as the air moved over it, rather like a kaleidoscope being turned.

The Champagne Pool itself is full of little bubbles constantly rising to the surface, again with swirls of steam drifting over it which at times was so thick that you couldn’t see a person 3 feet away from you. It didn’t smell too good either. Around the edge of the pool are strips of orange and red where metal elements have also joined the minerals at the party.

There were many other sites along the way, but the only other two to highlight were the Devil’s Bath that was the most amazing bright lime green colour and the Bird’s Nest Crater. Devil’s Bath instantly brought Shrek to mind and it would have been just the kind of place that an ogre would have enjoyed. Its caused by mineral-rich waters from the Champagne Pool mixing with sulphur and ferrous salts. We were lucky that the cloud made it appear green, as often its yellow and does not show up so well on photos. Swallows and Mynah birds actually nest in holes on the walls of the wide Bird’s Nest Crater and the heat from below rises and incubates their eggs.

We arrived in Mount Maunganui at about 4.30pm and I was given a very nice room at the front of the building which got a lot of road noise, but was well away from the lounge and kitchen, so more peaceful at night. Apart from when all the drunks came back and couldn’t get through the front door, which was near my window. The first night was the worst with groups rolling back every hour from 1am to 5am, but it was St Paddy’s Day, so fair play. There was a good scattering of green hats in the car park in the morning and someone with a great sense of humour had also planted a whole row of plastic shamrocks in the flowerbed.

The Mount itself is at the end of a peninsular with a small peaceful cove called Pilot Bay on one side which is pretty right next to the Mount but then it widens and leads round to the busy port and then the industrial area, so not a great deal to interest me there. It did have some good shade and benches for chilling and watching the small sailboats though. At the base of the Mount are a series of thermally heated saltwater hot pools that are all different temperatures.

On the other side of the peninsular is the long and wide Main Beach where all the new multi million dollar houses and apartments have been built. This beach is attractive with soft, golden coloured sand backed with small plant-covered dunes and a great walkway that runs the full length of the beach. There are lots of places where the waves break quite high and this attracts loads of surfers, who are great fun to watch. While I was on the sand down near the waters edge taking photos of the Mount, a big wave broke right by me and I got soaked - I have included the shot I was taking at the time and one just afterwards showing how high the wave came.

Down the centre of the peninsular is the main street with a range of shops and cafes and a couple of restaurants. After spending most of the day exploring the whole peninsular I stopped for a tasty homemade mushroom and bacon soup at one of the cafes. I am not sure how they heated it or what magic ingredient it contained but it retained the heat something fierce, taking ages before it was cool enough to eat. Perhaps it was thermally heated too but it felt as if it should have a warning label and I swear it probably had a nuclear half-life.

I spent 3 full days just chilling in MM, visiting the beaches and the town and hanging out with other people in the hostel. There were quite a lot of long-term people there who were working in the fruit farms, particularly the kiwi farms where the crops were being picked and then packed. They were all different nationalities but the majority were from South American countries. These guys were nice but they rather took over the hostel, were very loud and messy and constantly woke every one up with either their partying or when they returned from the night shift. Actually there was one guy there who nobody liked and was obnoxious - in fact he was such a big asshole he could have hosted his own solar system - but thankfully people like that are few and far between.

I had to detour and stay a night in the small town of Thames in order to catch a different bus to spend a few days exploring the Coromandel Peninsular, which is a thumb-shaped piece of land on the North coast that sticks straight up into the Pacific. In Thames there were a few good examples of Victorian wooden buildings in the town centre, but not much else of real interest. The hostel smelt of cats and I had a tiny room that I could truly call my own, as nobody else could fit in when I was there.

The next morning the bus collected us and took is over the Tairua Ranges, a ridge of mountains covered in lush natural bush, to our first stop to see some huge Kauri trees. Next we went to Hot Water Beach where an underground thermal river runs just beneath the beach and for the two hours either side of low tide you can dig yourself your own hot water spa close to the waters edge, with very hot water seeping in from under you. It gets so hot that you have to dig a channel from the sea to bring cold water into your pool to stop you scalding yourself. Unfortunately the low tides this week were at 6am and 6pm, which was no good for us as we were there at the high tide, so the beach was empty. We did see some enterprising stalls renting out spades for more than a new one would have cost. Many people seem to leave their footware behind in the sand and a “lost property” fence nearby holds hundreds of sandals, flip-flops and shoes - occasionally there are pairs but mainly just single ones, which begs the question of whether people got home by hopping or just didn’t notice that they had one bare foot.

A a short drive further along the coast we passed through Hahei which was an attractive small town with a good sandy beach and parked on the next hill, where the coastal walk to Cathedral Cove began. The walk is very picturesque, with grand views of the dozens of small uninhabited islands that litter the bay and views inland over the mountains and forests. It takes about 45 minutes to walk to Cathedral Cove and you are constantly going up and down very steep paths - longer if you constantly stop to take photos or to try to catch your breath after the long uphill stretches. The day was very hot with temperatures hitting 29 degrees, so the patches of forest enroute were very welcome, providing both shade and wonderful views. The sea here is a protected Marine Park and is therefore chock full of all types of fish, with some impressively large examples of some species.

Cathedral Cove is one of the most attractive beaches I have been to, with soft pale sand and clear, deep blue waters. It reminded me a bit of Railay Beach in Thailand, as it has similar limestone cast rocks standing alone in the water - the result of millions of years of wave action. The Cove is split into two by the magnificent Cathedral Cave, which is a long and high cavern with a ceiling that looks like a vaulted church and echoes when you shout inside it. Its very atmospheric and well worth the walk.

I jumped off the bus at Whitianga for two nights at a hostel sitting right by a wide sandy beach. W-h in Maori is always pronounced as an F, so it sounds like Fitianga. The hostel was a bit far away from town, but there were loads of people staying that had cars so often you could bag a lift. We found a good pub in town where, if you had a main meal and drinks, they would shuttle you back to your hostel in their courtesy bus. Wish all places did that.

I spent the whole of the next day being lazy, either sunning on the beach and swatting sandflies (horrible, persistent beggers) or hanging out with the folks at the hostel. It was very relaxing.

Off to see the rest of the peninsular and stopping for a night at Coromandel Town next.

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