Blogs from Coromandel, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania

We left Auckland for the beginning of our trip southwards. We made a few little stop offs along the way and eventually got to Coromandel for hot water beach at around 1:30pm. Once there we grabbed a spade and headed straight to the beach to dig our own little pool of hot water to sit in. Unfortunately when we got therwere tide was already in pretty far so we started digging but every time we got close to making a pool the tide kept coming in to the pool and making it cold. Eventually a man who had been there a while offered us his pool and we all jumped in as quick as possible to get a feeling of the hot water From under the sand. We sat there for a while burning our bum ... read more

The drive from Whangarei towards the Coromandel took way longer than expected as we got caught up with all the folk heading home back to work after their New Year celebrations. Once we reached the peninsular the roads were quiet and we drove through some beautiful and quiet villages as well as Coromandel town that was crammed with heritage buildings and people alike. We passed cafes, art studios, loads of interesting shops and restaurants, but we had no time to stop as we still had a couple of hours to go further up to our destination of Port Jackson, right on the tip of the peninsular. The further north we drove the more isolated and beautiful everything was, the coastal road was lined with pohutukawa trees and luckily we didn't pass anyone! The gravel track clung ... read more

Having travelled for 400 miles of the south west North Island which was OK but not outstanding by previous standards, except for Waitomo caves, we decided to spend the last three days driving the Coromandel peninsular. This is a thumb of land east of Aukland separated by The Thames. This is not a river but a huge tidal area and near the head is a place called Thames. To drive all the way round the coastal route takes 6 hours and is very scenic but with narrow twisitng roads and hill climbs and decents. We had two overnight stays to savour the area which is a playground for the rich Auklanders. The east side (Pacific) is beautiful with coves, beaches and marinas whilst the west side is commercial with salmon and mussel farms galore. Our last ... read more

14.-16. Oktober: Sonntag, Montag und Dienstag Waipoua Kauri Forest ( Tane Mahuta ), Reisetag nach Snells Beach an der Ostküste und Weiterreise nach Whitianga. Am Sonntag beschliessen wir auf den Besuch in Russell mit Spaziergang zum Flagstaff Hill zu verzichten und stattdessen Tane Mahuta, dem grössten Kauri Baum einen Besuch zu machen. Dazu müssen wir den nördlichen Teil der Nordinsel überqueren um in den Waipoua Kauri Forest zu gelangen, das heisst ein Weg ist ca. 130 km lang. Da dies seine Zeit dauert, müssen wir was zum Futtern mitnehmen. Wir packen also den Rucksack mit Trinkbarem, streichen Sandwiches und stecken noch Kraftriegel ein. Die Wetterlage ist unstabil, also stopfen wir noch unsere Regenjacken in den Rucksack. Wir fahren los, gemütlich, Willi knipst unentwegt Bilder, wir zählen die überfahrenen Oposums, Vögel und anderes Getier,... read more

We all slept well in our campervan beds! Got up and had breakfast around 7:30am, then headed straight to the hot springs mineral pool for another heavenly soak. After that E & S went and got some exercise on the trampoline until it was time for us to move on. We drove into Thames and stopped to have lunch in a café… meat pies and sausage rolls. That’s when the rain started. We went on to the shopping mall where there was supposed to be free internet access. We found the connection site but had no luck connecting so gave up on that. We drove on along the seafront and through farm land making our way to Hahei Beach which is in the Whitianga area. The roads were very narrow and sometimes we were driving on ... read more