After managing to get to Tauranga, my aim was to get towards to the Coromandel Peninsula on Saturday. I didn't really stay to look round Tauranga as I'd done that before, instead leaving relatively early. This meant negotiating the complex motorway system which was actually quite confusing. Eventually I cleared the suburbs and found a good place to hitchhike and soon got a ride north to Waihi. Waihi is particularly famous for its gold mining heritage and a worthwhile walk here was to visit the Martha's Pit which until recently was an open working gold mine. Unfortunately a big landslip has now closed it, but this has left behind a big hole in the ground which you're able to walk around!
I was tempted to visit Waihi Beach as many kiwis you speak to seem to rate it, but I decided not to as it just seemed like a tourist trap, and was 11km away. I was planning to visit Karangahake Gorge at some point though and there was a 82km cycle track which runs from Waihi Beach to Thames along the old railway line which looked tempting. I decided to walk a 24km section of it from Waihi Town to Paeroa. The walk went past the old railway station in Waihi which now operates a heritage railway to Waikino, following the Ohinemuri River before reaching the Victoria Battery gold refinery complex. From here I soon reached Owharoa Falls where I had lunch and a nice swim, the area particularly busy.
From the waterfall I continued following the old railway line, including a side trip to this old quarry, eventually reaching this 1km long tunnel which brought me through to the Karangahake Gorge. Here I did a couple of side walks exploring some of the old tramlines and mines, which some great views of the river passing through the gorge in the process. From the gorge I pressed on towards Paeroa, which is particularly famous for the popular drink L&P which is everywhere in NZ, and something I will definitely miss! After a quick look round Paeroa I hitched a ride up to Thames, which is the main town in the Coromandel. It was a very long day when arriving though and I was pretty shattered, not helped by forgetting my water bottle in Tauranga hence dehydrating myself from the heat.
In the morning I had a pretty laid back start to the day, mainly so I could give my electricals a power boost before heading into the more remote parts of the Coromandel. I wanted to do a walk up into the pinnacles which are these jagged rock pinnacles which stick out above the forest giving breathtaking views over the Coromandel Peninsula. The path was however closed which was very frustrating as it was something I wanted to do way back when I was Auckland too but it was closed the whole time I was there too. It recently reopened again but apparently the path is unsafe again so that was no go. I therefore decided to head to Coromandel Town, leaving Thames just after lunch.
Getting to Coromandel Town proved to be a struggle despite it being a relatively busy road. After two rides and only covering about half the distance I eventually got a ride with a fellow backpacker which was a relief, although I'd lost most the afternoon trying to get there. The drive was pretty stunning, the road literally following the waters edge much of the way. The road went inland eventually over the hills and there were great views over the peninsula, with Auckland cbd even visible in the distance. When getting to Coromandel Town the day was gone, so I headed out to find somewhere to camp for the night. I followed the harbours edge round Mcgregor Bay and found myself a nice secluded beach on the Wyuna Peninsula. It was another nice sunset, although the highlight was seeing a few dolphins in the distance.
In the morning I followed the coast round the Wyuna Peninsula and there were some great views of the surrounding islands. It was quite a challenging walk though as it was very rocky and jagged underfoot, and when I got round into Coromandel Harbour it was really muddy as the beach was like a saltmarsh. I eventually got back to Coromandel Town where I had lunch and chilled out for a bit. From Coromandel Town I was considering heading north towards Colville and Port Jackson which are apparently gateways to some of the more remote beaches in the Coromandel, however that would have been challenging to get to and I didn't want to risk getting stranded. I instead decided to aim for Whitianga.
Whitianga is the main tourist town in the Coromandel and has all the services I needed, although like the previous day I found hitching a ride a difficult. Eventually I got a ride straight there, and when arriving I topped up my food supplies and went to the beach for a swim. From Whitianga I wanted to get to Hahei, and my two options were to try and hitch around this river, or to just catch a ferry across and walk. I went for the latter which still gave me about 18km to walk but there were things to do en route. It was fun waiting for the ferry on the wharf as there were these massive stingrays swimming around it!
After getting off the ferry I walked up to Whitianga Rock which gave me a view over the estuary and town, before continuing to head up where I got further views right over Mercury Bay. After dropping back down again I reached Flaxmill Beach where I headed up the Shakespeare Cliffs to get even further great views over Mercury Bay. When reaching the other side I dropped down into Lonely Bay which was a pretty secluded beach only accessible by foot. I decided to camp here despite still having a few hours of daylight to play with, which meant I had time to have a good swim and to simply chill out a bit.
In the morning the weather wasn't as good and it was really overcast. I left early as result, heading out of Lonely Bay to Cooks Bay which was a pretty beach including a small settlement. From there someone kindly gave me a ride to Hahei, which is where you go to access Cathedral Cove, one the more stunning pieces of coastline in New Zealand. From Hahei I followed the road to the car park, before walking along this tarmac path straight out to Mares Leg Cove, which is linked to Cathedral Cove by this impressive rock arch. It was a little drizzly which was a shame but there were still great views of some of the islands along the way, and the arch and sea stacks around Cathedral Cove were still pretty.
On the way back from Cathedral Cove I did a couple of side walks to check out Stingray Bay and Gemstone Bay which were another couple of stunning bays, Stingray Bay in particular. The rain got harder however at this point, although from the car park I followed the coast instead of the road back to Hahei Beach, the islands not very visible anymore! When finding shelter from the rain in Hahei I had lunch, before going out to Hereherataura Peninsula when I thought the weather was clearing. It was only a short spell however and it was soon raining again, although it was still a nice little walk. The rest of the day was a washout and I had little choice but to shelter in Hahei for the night as I would have just got soaked otherwise.
By the morning the weather had somewhat improved although it was still a little overcast. I set off relatively early and got a ride to Hot Water Beach without even trying which was nice, although when I arrived it was high tide which was a bad thing. The geothermal energy to dig your own hot pool only rises to surface at low tide. I decided not to wait until low tide because it wasn't really beach weather and there wasn't much else to do there. Soon after leaving I bumped into the farmer who gave me a ride from Coromandel Town to Whitianga again, and he kindly let me jump on the back of his quad bike to take me back out to the main road. Originally my next planned stop was Tairua, although the guy who next picked me up said it wasn't really worth stopping there, so I instead went straight down Whangamata.
Whangamata had a pretty beach with a few islands in the backdrop, although it wasn't really beach weather. A interesting attraction here is Donut Island, which is a island shaped like a donut, where you can swim through this cave to get to the middle where it's like a hidden oasis. I was tempted to swim across but I decided not to risk it, instead just taking a walk along the beach and round the river estuary. From Whangamata it was effectively aim for Auckland, with my two options being to head south to Waihi, or back track on myself to get back to Thames. I decided to head to Thames in the end as there were more facilities there and it was a good base for the night to aim for Auckland through following day.
I stayed in Thames for a bit in the morning, before walking down to Kopu to hitch a ride out to Auckland. I knew it would be near on impossible to get a ride into the cbd but I knew if I could get to any suburb on the Auckland train network I was doing well. From Kopu I managed to get a ride to the Bombay service station, and from there got a ride to Manukau City so I did really well. After lunch I caught a train into the cbd where I just chilled out for the afternoon. There was lots going on down at the harbour with some sailing event coming to Auckland next week, and it was nice to see what's changed since I last visited with all the new developments going on.
With my flight to Kuala Lumpur not until Sunday evening, I had all day Friday and Saturday and much of Sunday free. The main reason I got to Auckland a few days early though was to relax, and I did just that. The harbour had a stage with live music on throughout the daytime and evenings with beanbags so that was a nice place to chill out, and I also went to the library a couple of times to read some travel guides for inspiration. Other than that I didn't really do too much exploring, mainly to just let my legs recover a bit!
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