Blogs from Whitianga, Coromandel, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania

well guys what can i say, New Zealand just keeps producing the goods, from beautiful vistas to grounded down to earth people, Whitianga is nice (very nice) but i dont feel as at home as in Paihia, so thats the place for us, the bike is great as per, the back is knackered so a few days of, bit of kayaking and scuba should sort the back ha ha, it really is paradise, but you have to share paradise, if you see it on your on you might aswell stayed at home and looked at photos Ta Ta for now Sam x... read more

In the morning, we visited Hot Water Beach and enjoyed sitting around in the termal water pools. We couldn't leave without paying a visit to the fantastic Moko Artspace which sells art/sculpure/jewellery etc by local artists. We gave a couple of German hitchhikers a ride back to Hahei (90% of the travellers we met are from Germany!) before taking the ferry over to Whitianga. This lovely little town is full of quirky shops and cafés, so we spent most of the afternoon exploring. Later, we visited Cook's Beach and North Beach - but it was a bit too cold to swim in the sea!... read more

The Coromandel Peninsula is the bit that juts out east of Auckland. Most of it is within about 4-5 hours driving from Auckland itself, so there are quite a few towns where Aucklanders have holiday homes etc. that are quiet except during school holidays. We spent about 5 days in the area. Enjoyed taking our time, going for scenic walks to various view points and beaches. We did splash out a bit to celebrate Jordan's birthday and go for a boat cruise to see the coast line from another angle, sadly this is when Kathie lost her hat in the wind. Generally though we had great weather, and it was nice and relaxing. New Chums beach claims to be a top 20 in the world, have to admit, it was pretty nice. Unfortunately developers are looking ... read more

After another quick stop over in Auckland we headed south to Whitianga (pronounced Fitianga, Wh is pronounced as a F in Maori, there is a place named Whakapapa but we'll get to that later). Here we headed to the beautiful Coromandel Peninsula to visit Catherdral Cove Marine Reserve which can only be accessed by foot or by kayak which explains why the scenery was so incredible. We spend the entire day completing the trail walks along the white sandy beaches, coastal walkways and rugged cliffs. The next morning we visited the beach at Mercury Bay where you can dig your own hot pools and we did just that. The reservoir of water stems from heated water underground from a nearby volcano, when the tide is low you can rent a spade and start digging then take ... read more

The Coromandel Peninsula is a favorite get-away for stressed-out Aucklanders. A quick (ish) 2 hour drive east of Auckland, the Coromandel Peninsula is a wonderful mix of mountains, forests, and pretty beaches. Tiny towns from the gold mining era line the west coast. But it is along the slightly more populated east coast where the hordes (such that they are - this isn't the Hamptons) soak up the sun on pristine white sand beaches. The small but cute town of Whitianga is a popular base for exploring the Coromandel. Just a quick drive away from Whitianga is the famous "Hot Water Beach" where you can grab a shovel and dig, dig, dig your very own hot tub in the sand. Hot Water Beach sits on top of one of the many (hundreds? thousands?) of thermal springs ... read more