Coromandel Peninsula, New Zealand North Island – March 30th – 31st, 2017

We took the scenic route from Auckland along the Firth of Thames coast towards Coromandel. The drive was stunning – look right: WOW! lush green rolling hills dotted with sheep and cows, look left: WOW! amazing unadulterated coastline! Our first stop on the Coromandel Peninsula was Hot Springs Beach. At low tide, you can walk to this stretch of beach, shovel in hand, and dig your own natural hot pool. The hot water literally seeps through the sand to fill your personal kiddy pool. Since sand is sand it’s impossible to get the pool very deep (although we tried), but we relished our 2-inches of hot water up until the point where the tide came in and flooded our hot tub. Coincidentally, my family was at this same beach when I was a kid (see photos)!

The drive from Auckland to Coromandel Peninsula.

My dad, sister, and me at Hot Springs Beach when I was a kid. 

Present day Hot Springs Beach.

That night, we parked Freddy Kiwi (the van) at the Cathedral Cove parking lot (for free) where we watched the sun go down and back up again in the morning. It was beyond words beautiful. The iPhone camera photos do not come close to doing it justice (our other point and shoot camera suffered an untimely death thanks to the humidity of Asia, but do not fear, a new fancy mirrorless camera is on the way for your viewing pleasure!). First thing in the morning, we ventured down to the Cathedral Cove beach where we finished watching the sun rise and explored the water eroded rock formations. We didn’t hit the tide quite right so ended up attempting to run through the arch without getting drenched. On the way out, we were highly successful, but confidence can be a terrible thing in excess, and on the way back through Andy got drenched while I took my shoes off and pranced like a deer through the ankle height waves (after watching (and filming) his hilarious tide fail).  

Camping at Cathedral Cove.

Cathedral cove + shadow puppets. 

Tide fail.