Coromandel Peninsula -- Mercury Bay

Driving Out

We headed out Tuesday morning in our brand spanking new (okay old and used up) car. We drove from Auckland to the Coramandel Region, and went along the Coastal Route (crazy windy) from Thames to Coromandel Town. We stopped at a few spots to take in the view and take a breath. The road did seem like it was on top of the ocean a lot of the time.

The scenery along the drive was just amazing and we stopped at a few beaches to walk in the sand. The east coast beaches have a lot of white sand and are amazing. We hopped on one just as it quit raining and once again had an amazing beach all to ourselves for at least fifteen minutes.

Cathedral Cove

We tented at a tourist park about ten minutes from the coast, the wind kind of got up and it was a bit chilly the first night, we forgot it was still only springtime here.

We drove down the Hahei Beach in the morning and took the tracks down Cathedral Cove, stopping along the way at Gemstone Bay and Stingray Bay. All

The Cathedral Cove arch

these areas are in a marine reserve and are supposed offer some amazing scuba diving.

Cathedral Cove was absolutely breathtaking and the weather was beautiful when we arrived at the beach. The Cove is name for the giant arch the waved have cut out of the cliff that separates the two beaches there. We sat in the sun for a few hours, read our books and eventually even went for our first swim in the South Pacific Ocean. Great spot for sure.

Hot Water Beach

Just down from Hahei Beach is Hot Water Beach, named for the natural hot springs that come up through the beach which can only be accessed at low tide. We showed up a little late and there was at least 100 people there already (you have about two hours either side of low tide). We ended up jumping in a hole with some Aussie's and enjoyed the hand dug hot tub for a few hours.

Sea Kayaking

The next morning we went sea kayaking! This has got to be the highlight of our trip to date. We didn't see any marine life but we did a lot of amazing kayaking that we

The Stack

This apparently used to be an arch at the other end of the beach.

probably never would have tried without our amazing guide there. We went through caves that flush you out like a waterslide... if you time it right... which we didn't... and then the flush goes the other way. We saw and amazing blowhole (where the sea had worn out a cavern and the roof had collapsed) you kayak into what looks like a cave and come out in a blowhole. Its indescribably beautiful and unfortunately our waterproof camera is still out of commission so no pictures. Guess you'll have to come see it yourselves!

Whitianga -- AKA Carla shut the town down on her Birthday!

We went out of our way to have a good time, but town was pretty quiet. We went to an amazing Indian restaurant where the birthday girl ate for free. We even tried Ginger Beer, it is not Root Beer, it's pretty much Ginger Ale, not the same. We did our own two person walking pub crawl of Whitianga's many bars; however the big tourist season has not hit yet and Thursday nights are pretty quiet in this little harbour town. We tried Speight's, Lion Red and Waitomo Draught. Carla like Lion Red the best,