The view from our beach
The view back towards the ocean After a rest day in Thames to recharge our batteries (physically as well as all of our electronics!) we set off straight across the peninsula via the Tapu-Coroglen road. The morning started out fairly flat along the coast, but as soon as we turned inland the road began to climb. One or two small hills later we lost pavement and began a long steep trek up a narrow, winding gravel road. We wound our way up the mountain painfully slowly under the intense mid-day sun, but we were rewarded by spectacular views of the ocean behind us to remind us how far we had come. About 3/4 of the way up the hill we pulled off and escaped into the shade of the forest for a short hike up to Square Kauri tree to take a break from the sun and eat our lunch. The 10 minute hike was steep, but well worth the spectacular view of the valley below us and the enormous ancient tree.
The trunk of a giant Kauri Tree When we reached the top of the hill we had a new set of challenges to face. The hill was just as steep and the turns just as tight on the way down, and the loose gravel made it difficult to control our heavy bikes. Each of us has about 40lbs of gear in addition to our own weight and the steel frames, so if we entered a hairpin turn with any speed we risked skidding either off the cliff or into oncoming traffic. We spent the majority of the descent on our brakes, and it took so long to get down that both of our hands were tired by the end. About 4 hours after we started across the peninsula we popped out at Coroglen, and from there it was a relatively easy (paved!) 16k to the beach town of Hahei.
Our natural hot tub We set up camp at the Hahei Motor Park right on the beach, and just over the dune from our tent site were the most spectacular views. We decided to spend three days and two nights in Hahei since it was centrally located to all of the things we wanted to do on the eastern side of the peninsula. We took a swim in the ocean to rinse off all the dust and sweat from the day, and treated ourselves to dinner and some local beers at the Pour House that night. The next morning we ate breakfast on the beach, then took off for an easy 10k ride down to Hot Water Beach. Our bikes felt incredibly light without all of our baggage, but the headwind still made it a tougher ride than we would have hoped.
We timed our visit to Hot Water Beach to coincide with low tide and we rented a shovel from a local shop to dig a hole just along the shoreline and look for the thermal waters the beach is named for. The first hole we dug filled in with water, but we were disappointed to find that it was hardly any warmer than the ocean. We thought maybe the hot water was a bit of an exaggeration, so we soaked in our little kiddy pool and just enjoyed the view, until we heard rumors of hotter water further down the beach. Turns out just 10 feet over from where we were digging the water was so warm that people were dumping buckets of seawater into their holes to make it bearable, and if you stood on the sand too long it would scald your feet. We dug another hole, and watched the hot water bubble up from the sand below until we had our very own natural hot-tub right on the beach. We relaxed our sore legs until the rising tide invaded and then we biked home.
We timed our visit to Hot Water Beach to coincide with low tide and we rented a shovel from a local shop to dig a hole just along the shoreline and look for the thermal waters the beach is named for. The first hole we dug filled in with water, but we were disappointed to find that it was hardly any warmer than the ocean. We thought maybe the hot water was a bit of an exaggeration, so we soaked in our little kiddy pool and just enjoyed the view, until we heard rumors of hotter water further down the beach. Turns out just 10 feet over from where we were digging the water was so warm that people were dumping buckets of seawater into their holes to make it bearable, and if you stood on the sand too long it would scald your feet. We dug another hole, and watched the hot water bubble up from the sand below until we had our very own natural hot-tub right on the beach. We relaxed our sore legs until the rising tide invaded and then we biked home.
Cathedral Cove The next morning we had planned on renting paddle boards, but we woke up to threatening skies, heavy winds and rough seas so we decided to switch gears and explore the ocean by motorboat instead. We packed up all of our things and stashed our bikes in some bushes before walking down the beach to meet the Hahei Explorer boat. We got to sit right in the bow, and it was quite an exciting ride bouncing across the heavy swells. We caught a good bit of air a few times! The boat took us down to the marine reserve, stingray bay and cathedral cove before swinging out to some of the outlying islands. We passed through several sea-caves and inside a massive blowhole before making our way back to the beach.
Swinging out over the ocean Once back on dry land we took a walk down the beach to investigate a rope swing we has spotted the day before, tied to a tree hanging over the cliff. We spent almost an hour climbing up a large rock and jumping off to swing out over the ocean and back again, before we decided it was probably time to go check on our bikes. Our plan was to head out of town and towards Cooks Beach, but we decided to take a detour on the way and hike out to Cathedral Cove so we could explore it a little more. The ride to the trailhead was up a very steep hill, and both of us were still feeling the effects of the last hill we had conquered, but the effort paid off with spectacular views from the top of the cliff.
The view from the top of the cliff
Stingray bay We hiked down towards Stingray Bay and spent some time wading in the shallows with the stingrays, trying not to pull a Steve Irwin. There were also urchin, starfish, crabs and snails hanging out in the tide pools in the rocks. From there it was a 40 minute hike to Cathedral Cove, back up over the cliff and through some dense forest before winding back down to the beach. There were plenty of cool rock formations in the water and several arches and caves to explore before heading back up the trail towards our bikes. We learned that Cathedral Cove was the filming location for the second Narnia movie, so we'll have to go back and watch it again to see if we recognize anything. We made our way back down the hill and out of town, and several kilometers down the road a kind farmer offered us a place to camp in his kiwi orchard and we were grateful to have a free place to sleep for the night.
The view from Shakespeare Cliff The next morning we rode the last few Kilometers to Cooks Beach, where we met up with Shanan who rented us some paddle boards so we could explore the coastline. We paddle to a place called Lonely Bay, where the beach was covered with shells, many of them worn into almost perfect rings that would make excellent jewelry. We spent almost an hour collecting shells and hiking up to the top of Shakespeare Cliff to enjoy the view before hopping back on the boards. We paddled around the next corner and into a sea cave where the calm water let us relax on the boards for a while without floating away with the current. We also paddle down along the beach and up a river full of stingrays and starfish before Shanan picked us up and gave us a ride back to our bikes. We rode out of Cooks Beach toward Ferry Landing to take the ferry across to Whitianga, and met a nice gentleman who kindly paid for our tickets when he saw us scrounging for coins to make the fare. Just another in a long line of incredibly friendly and helpful people we've met along the way! Whitianga is one of the bigger towns on the Coromandel Peninsula, and we decided to take a bus from there back to Thames to head South on the Hauraki Rail Trail to save ourselves a few days of slogging up and down massive hills.
To see more pictures from our adventures on the Coromandel Peninsula check out the photo post.
Starfish River
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