Saturday, February 8, 2025

Coromandel and the Bay of Plenty

 The last week has flown by. We have gone north to the Coromandel Peninsula to explore and play. We have been staying in campgrounds, and the weather has been near perfect. Campgrounds are interesting places, and we always meet interesting people. There are many people like us, traveling on long trips and living in less expensive lodging (Smile).

The camping life and three day rule: We have learned that it takes three days to organize when on the road. The first couple days everything is lost, hidden, or buried.  But after three days, poof! You can find everything quickly.

 Driving here is very stimulating. You drive on the left hand side of the road, and the roads are very winding and narrow with the locals driving fast. It is truly a team sport, and is hardest on the passenger. On the left (passenger) side, you always feel like you are driving off the edge. It is getting better slowly, and we are still talking to each other.

Our first stop on the way north was Whangamata. We are tenting for the first time, and kayaking to some small islands. It was a good test to try our tent and kayaks out.


We paddled around all the islands, but Donut Island was the most fun. It had a large daylighted cave in it, and it was impressive. 

Marty inside Donut Island

The doorway out

Some fun things:



The next stop was the village of Hahei. We spent two days on the water here, and stayed in a large holiday park on the beach. The first paddle was to see a large tourist attraction, Cathedral Cove. The cove has a large sea arch that you can explore from the beach. It is hard to get to, as the shore trail to it was destroyed by a large storm.

Cathedral Cove

It was fun to watch the tour guides launch the large tandem kayaks off a steep beach into 1+ meter swell. It was like an aircraft carrier.


Kayak tourists being launched off the beach.

Our final trip out of Hahei was the Hot water beach. This was a about 3.5 miles along rugged coast. It is hard to summarize this section... It was amazing. We found at least a dozen caves, and explored at least six. One large one was daylighted, and was larger than donut island.  The paddle started as we headed to a point, but then noticed a 20 meter tunnel through the point. It was like entering another world.

Here are some highlights:
Hope that rock doesn't fall...

Esther 

Entrance to large daylighted cave

Love that color

Looking up inside

Really large cave

Even bigger cave with a boat in it.

Large cave with a stone column at the entrance

Inside that cave
Wow... what a day
So, it's late and we need to get up early to catch a ferry.
More soon!
E & M

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