Sunday Out Of Auckland

Dec 17, 2011 by Joel

Sunday 11th December 2011

Finally Sunday came around and it was a day that I had fully to spend how I wanted. So rather then spending anther day contending with the traffic and such in Auckland city, I figured it was time to get out of the city and see the countryside.

The thing about New Zealand or at least the Auckland area that I found is that there is so many different options all within a potential day trip range. This of course all depends on just how much you would like to drive. Some of the options that I was contemplating were The Bay of Islands, Rotarua, or one of a few different options near Hamilton.

However in the end I went for a completely different option by choosing the Coromandel Peninsula. Which is around a 2 hour drive each way, or about 150km depending exactly on where you are looking to visit. This is a very nice drive, starting out on the motorway before heading into the winding Kopu-Hikuai Rd which winds its way through the mountains of Coromandel Forest Park before arriving on the eastern coast. My first stop was in the small town of Tairua.

A stop at the visitors centre helped me decide exactly what to see out of the many different places to visit on the peninsula. While there are a number of options of places to drive and see, if it is the scenic option you are after there are a couple of options quite close to Tairua. The first of such is Mt Paku, just two minutes drive from the visitors centre.

Mt Paku is 179m high and you can drive most some of the way and finish with a short but steep climb up a trail, stairs and some large uneven rocks. However for the effort you are rewarded with an expansive view up and down the east coast of the Peninsula, looking out on a number of smaller islands, and off into the Pacific Ocean. One of best scenic views I have seen.

The second stop I was to make today I had not really planned on. There is a place out here by the name of Cathedral Cove. In the information I had found it was noted as a 90 minute return walk. With the weather being pretty overcast today I had decided not to visit Cathedral Cove and risk getting caught in poor weather on the walk. However the guide at the visitors centre told me that the weather was not really as bad as it looked and it was probably the best option anyway.

So a short 30 minute drive north through some more winding mountain roads along the coast with a number of great pull outs with spectacular views. I arrived in the small town of Hahei, which is about 1km from the parking lot for Cathedral Cove. Being around lunch time I decided to have a bite to eat before taking on the 45 minute walk each direction, to Cathedral cove. The Place I stopped to eat was name the Grange Cafe and I enjoyed a burger here that was really quite large.

After Lunch I headed up to the parking lot to walk to Cathedral Cove, and almost thought I was going to be disappointed, after reaching the parking lot to find it full and people circling for a spot. However on the second pass I happened on a spot and headed out. The walk is only about 1.5km however it is along a winding path, which goes up and down the contours of the hillside. There are a number of different paths you can take, and depending on your choice, there is between 150-200 stairs.

The results of the walk are more then worth it though. You step down from the last stair onto a beautiful sheltered cove, with a large sandy beach. looking around to the right and left are towering rock cliff sides, some with chunks of rock strewn  under the edge from a recent rock fall. To the right is a small cave in the rock face, however to the left is I am sure the defining feature of Cathedral Cove, a massive opening in the rock which goes right through to the next cove. With a point at the top it does almost resemble a Cathedral like cave.

The last stop for the day before heading back to the hotel in Auckland was to be a quick stop at a beach, this beach is a little different to many beaches though. The beach is named Hot Water Beach, not because all the water is hot. But because of one section that is sitting on top of thermal springs. It does draw quite a crowd, who all come down with their shovels and dig into the sand, so that the hot water will raise up and mix with the incoming tide, to create your own small warm pool on the beach.

It was now getting a little late in the afternoon, and time to head back to Auckland. I took pretty much the same route back as when I came down, and covered it in a little over 2 hours, due to a little traffic at one point where there is a single lane two direction bridge, which gets quite busy in the afternoon on a weekend.

However on getting back to the hotel it was still daylight and I drove around the area a little and found some great places to get some photo’s of the around not far from the hotel.

Unfortunately even though I was in New Zealand for 12 days, I really only had one a half days to actually get out and see anything, which I think I managed to cover quite a lot in this small amount of time. However for New Zealand being such a small country, there is a lot to see here, and even a month would probably not be enough time to see it all. So you can definitely expect to see me returning to New Zealand.