Again, I realize that I've been rather bad at keeping up to date. So, a few things I've done and then the real meat of my post. A bit over a week ago I went climbing at Waipapa. It's a cool crag located above a river. It was a lot of fun and really pretty, but all the climbs were balancy slabby climbs that weren't my style. The other big highlight of being here is that I went to an All Blacks rugby game, the first one of the season. The entire stadium was packed with people wearing black shirts, a sold out game, with the occasional splotches of fans in blue supporting France. It was a very heated game, as the Rugby World Cup was between France and the All Blacks last year so the rematch was amazing. Quite a fun game, and seeing the Haka and fuel behind it was pretty cool as well.
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| Waiau Falls |
Now to the real post. This past Sunday, Rose, Matt, and myself took a trip to the nearby Coromandel Peninsula. Leaving midday we went to Waiau Falls Scenic Reserve. We thought that the reserve was a lot bigger, but it turns out that the hike we intended to do and spend the afternoon doing was only about a 5 minute walk. So, we saw the waterfall and proceeded on to find somewhere to camp. The coastal drive was gorgeous and the amount of rainfall in the past month has certainly made the country come alive in green. As we left the coast and drove through the forest the variety and changes of bright and dark greens became more and more apparent.
Sunday night we stumbled upon the Mill Creek Bird and Reptile Park. Since we got there at sundown we pulled in and walked through the park to find the owners/managers and pay for night. In walking through the park we saw peacocks, a variety of birds, wallabies, possums, bunnies, and many other animals. As we walked through the parks, a growing number of ducks, pigeons, chickens, and peacocks that were loose in the park began to follow us. By the time we reached the office I think we had about 15-20 birds following us through the park. But, unable to find the managers, we pitched our tents and made dinner, spending the night playing a board game we found before an early bed time.
Monday morning was a surprisingly quiet wake up call with the large number of animals all around us. The only animal nearby was one of the ducks that had wandered down to the camp ground from the adjacent park. Breakfast eaten and tents drying out a bit before we packed them, we walked back through the park and spent a bit more time looking at the animals before paying.
We found one very cool bird called a Corella that liked to talk to us and would come up to the cage and put it's wings in the pose so it looked like an angel. Or if you put your finger out it would like on it's back and stretch out its wings so you could pet her neck and back. It was an adorable bird. They also had extremely friendly donkeys that we were petting and feeding and tons of other parrots and birds that liked to talk and show off when you walked by.
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| Rose and Matt playing with Lila |
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| Lila wants to be pet |
After we departed from the camp site we went to one of the more iconic tourist stops in New Zealand called Cathedral Cove, which is accessible via a 45 minute walk down from a beautiful outcrop overlooking the ocean. Upon descending to the beach, the iconic 40 foot tall cathedral-like tunnel that looks out onto a free standing outcropping in the middle of the beach. It was gorgeous and I am glad that I was able to make it there before leaving the country.
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| The view from the car park towards Cathedral Cove |
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| Another view from the car park at Cathedral Cove |
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| Cathedral Cove |
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| Looking out of the tunnel that gives Cathedral Cove its name |
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| The cave that gives Cathedral Cove its name |
From Cathedral Cove, we went a bit further south to another must-do stop on the Coromandel Peninsula. This stop is located in a tiny town that popped up probably because of the tourist demand of it. On the eastern shore of the peninsula is Hot Water Beach, a beach famous for the two underground hot springs that run below a part of the beach, allowing tourists and locals to dig thermal pools in the sand.
As we arrived to the beach a little earlier than expected, we went to a cafe down the road called Hot Water Cafe to get coffees and snacks. I got an amazing caramel slice - coconut graham cracker crust, middle caramel layer, and hard chocolate topping. It was delicious! As we were finishing, a cute blackish-orange cat with bright green eyes came walking out from around the corner in the shop. The waitress told us that her name was Chai and she is the cafe's cat. We took turns holding Chai and petting her as we finished our snacks and before long she was happy and purring sitting on our laps.
Having finished our snacks and coffees we went back to the car park and changed into beach attire and brought the pots and milk bottles to use as shovels for digging our holes. As we got to the beach we saw signs warning about the hot spring water reaching temperatures of 147 degrees Fahrenheit. Caution in mind, we found another group with a hot pool already dug who were kind enough to let us use their spades. Needless to say, they made the digging much more effective than the pots that we were intending to use. We ended up with a massive hole because one half was burning hot and the other side cold ocean water. Geothermal hot springs in the beach with 50 degree weather outside was a very cool experience. As we were getting ready to leave, a large tour group came up and each one asked to feel the water. The three of us got quite the amusement from watching each person come up touch the water and flinch at the scorching temperatures. A quick dip in the ocean to rince off the sand and we headed back to the car towards a camping spot for the evening.
We found a DOC site to camp in located along the Tairua River. It clearly is more of a summer camp ground as most of the area was flooded and swampy and we were the only ones there. Having found an appropriate place to camp, we went back to do the Golden Hills Battery hike that we had seen. The hike passes 2 old gold mines, and unfortunately the one that was still open and able to be walked in was flooded. With daylight dwindling we decided to pitch our tents and make dinner for the night listening to the river and watching the distant lightening, hoping it didn't pour on us that night.
Tuesday morning we woke to clear blue skies and oats and fruit that Rose was cooking. We ate and bundled up against the chilly morning air before heading further south to the town of Onemana. Onemana is a quaint little beach town with a gorgeous beach and tide pools during low tide. Unfortunately, the tide was high, but we still found a little pond with a small waterfall opposite the ocean. A bit further down we found a sandy hill that had a rope swing at the top overlooking the beach which we obviously had to play on. After spending time taking turns swinging and pushing we went to the opposite end of the beach where we had seen a trail leading to the top of a bluff. The dense and overgrown shrubs made the view rather limited, but the beauty of the hike was still quite amazing. Hiking and games complete, we headed off to another slightly larger beach town of Whangamata in hopes of catching low tide.
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| Onemana Beach |
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| The swing overlooking Onemana Beach |
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| Swinging at Onemana Beach |
The planned activity from Whangamata had been to kayak out to Donut Island with the low tide, an awesome island with a lagoon in the middle of it about 1km offshore, but due to strong swells and big waves we decided against that choice. Entering the lagoon is through a narrow tunnel, so the strong wells make it dangerous. Instead, we got meat pies in town and ate them on the beach before heading off to a waterfall that was listed nearby on the map.
A bit of confusion and poorly illustrated maps took us on a few detours, but eventually we reached the Homunga Bay trail head located about 2.5km from the beach at the top of a large hill about 1km tall overlooking the ocean. The hike to Homunga Bay goes through farmland and wooded areas, crossing streams, all with vast views of countryside and ocean before finally coming out to a beautiful bay. Directly where the trail meets the beach is an area of shaded, overhanging pohutukawa trees with washed up driftwood everywhere. To the right was a beautiful waterfall that is the convergence of all the streams we passed, and to the left was more trees and a boulder field. Being the only ones on the beach made it feel like a remote island paradise. The only downside was the abundance of sandflies and the large number of swollen bug bites I now have. But, I am certainly glad we went there, as apparently the beach is only accessible during low tide and it was a great place to enjoy some cookies and a beer with two great friends.
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| The view from the trail head |
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| Hiking to Homunga Bay |
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| The waterfall at Homunga Bay |
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| Homunga Bay |
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| Homunga Bay |
The ride home I fell asleep, waking up in time to see us pass through Paeroa, the town that makes the famous New Zealand soda L&P (Lemon and Paeroa) before heading back to Auckland. What a beautiful trip and I have more photos than I know what to do with.
