Saturday 4th December.
Today we met up with Dave Croft (ex student/colleague - see previous post....) and walked up Mount Maunganui. We opted to climb via the steep shady route and the views from the top showed the area at its best with the sun shining and surfers, canoeists and swimmers in the water.
‘The Mount’ is relatively (for NZ) densely populated with 100,000 people in quite a small area. It is also very much a holiday area, with the Bay of Plenty on one side, which has white water suitable for surfing, and the calm and tranquil Pilot Bay on the other. Off the end of the spit which the Mount is on is the Maori owned Matakana Island with its miles of white sandy beaches and a very limited population.
After our return down to sea level (via a less steep but sunnier route) Dave drove us through the town which is very much a ‘resort’, and back to his place for lunch and to meet his wife Gerri, mum-in-law Jenny and adorable daughter Leila who is rapidly approaching 1 year old.
After lunch Heather and I walked back along the beach to the campsite (40 minutes), encountering a plethora of jelly fish as well as numerous swimmers, surfers and sunbathers. We then chilled for the rest of the day apart from walking into the local ‘Plaza’ which was somewhat limited, but fortunately only 10 minutes walk away!
Sunday 5th December.
The morning started a little grey, but warm. It soon burnt off to give another hot and sunny day with a fair bit of cloud on the mountains.
We headed through Tauranga following Highway 2 with wonderful views of Tauranga Harbour on our right and the Kaimai Mamaku Forest on our left. We were soon in the Coromandel Forest Park following the Pacific Coastal Highway as it dipped in and out of coves giving us alternating beach and cliff top views. The area is quite mountainous and the road zig-zagged up and down making for some interesting driving to gain those incredible views.
We stopped in Whangamata for coffee and explored the town, which like most NZ townships was based almost entirely along the main road through it. Whangamata has actually been by-passed which reduces traffic, but it was quite busy as the beaches along this coast are of golden sand with sufficient surf to attract surfers as well as swimmers, sun-worshipers and 'boaties'.
We then continued through Tairua turning off at Whenuakite to Hot Water Beach. Here you can dig a hole in the sandy beach and have it fill with hot water. It was necessary to do this in such a way that the sea also added cold as otherwise scalding was a serious risk! As we approached the area it was quite clear where the springs were as there was a considerable gathering of people sitting in a selection of holes!
It was a strange sensation to have the cool sea wash over your feet with the soles of your feet being in hot water......
We then headed on via Cathedral Cove, Cooks Bay and Cooks Beach to Ferry Landing; however our intention of then cutting to Whitianga was thwarted as the only way across was by passenger ferry and we didn’t feel we could abandon the campervan just yet!
So it was back to Whenuakite and round the twisty roads via Coroglen and Kaimarama, passing through Whitianga and as far north as Kuaotunu where we took the small road to Matarangi and enjoyed tea overlooking Wainuiototo Bay.
We then returned to the (relatively) main road and turned west to cross the Coromandel Range (with magnificent views from the top) and down into Coromandel Town.
Here we joined the west coast which in direct contrast to the east is rocky with just a few sheltered bays of grey sand. The road literally follows the coast with very little separating the road from the sea.
We followed this through its twists and turns to Tapu where we took one look at the campsite and kept going! It was then a short way on to Te Puru where we were much more impressed and booked in before taking a stroll along the beach. We had tried booking in to a more ‘rural’ campsite by a mountain stream but were advised that as they had a youth group of some 70 youngsters it would be better to go elsewhere!
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