On Saturday 7 May 2016, I collected a group of 7 (from South Korea) from their apartment in the central city and we went to Coromandel. It was a sunny day with no wind and the temperature was warm for this time of the year, about 24 degrees.
Coromandel – $80 per person, full day tour.
For info and bookings call: (64) 27 223 6655 email: [email protected] or book online:
Destination: Coromandel
The drive took about 2 hours and our first stop was at Mary Bay, Tairua. We took some photos of Tairua Harbour and while wandering along the short wharf, we saw many fish in the sea.
They were quite a large size and were probably trevally but they were too far under the water for me to fully identify them.
It was only a couple of hours to low tide, so we headed to Hot Water Beach. The drive took about 20 minutes and when we arrived, we went to the middle part of the beach and dug our hole in the sand which started to fill up with hot water from under the sand.
In no time we had a hot pool but we were still enlarging it when the people next to us left so we took over their hot pool as well. Some of the group stayed to enjoy the hot water, while the remainder had some fun in the surf, before soaking in the hot water again
Our time at Hot Water Beach finished with a picnic on the grass area near the changing rooms.
A 10 minute drive took us to the Cathedral Cove carpark. The Cove is a 45 minute walk from the carpark. Cathedral Cove is a spectacular place, with its white sand, arch and sea-eroded rock formations.
It’s no wonder that it has been the setting for some scenes in movies such as the Narnia ones. We explored the area, taking photos as well as just relaxing and enjoying the scenery.
After Cathedral Cove, we returned to Tairua where we parked on Paku Hill and then walked up a steep track to the top. Near the top, the track itself finishes because there are some natural stone steps
We got there as the sun was setting, so the sky had tinges of orange near the setting sun and other parts of the sky had pinkish hues.
We stopped at Thames for a meal and then on the way back to Auckland stopped one more time on the side of the road for some stargazing. We needed to find a place with no lights from anywhere so we could fully appreciate all the stars.
I dropped the group off to their apartment at 9.40pm.
