The Travelling Bumbleweeds: Hell's Gate and The Coromandel Peninsula

Hell’s Gate was brilliant. We walked through a fascinating geothermal landscape admiring all the bubbling mud and sulphur pools that filled the air with steam. About hallway around we reached the steaming cliffs where we were able to pull clumps of hard mud of the walls and rub it between our hands. By doing so it transformed the mud into a gloopy liquid that magically softens and moisturises the hands (and makes a mess of cameras too!). It was very odd stuff. After learning all about the processes at work beneath the ground that create the pools, we were basically standing on a magma spike below a thin area of crust (reassuring), we went for our mud bath and spa session. For 20 minutes we sat in a warm private mud pool and coated each other in thick chocolate coloured mud, and against the advice of the people in charge completely covered each other’s faces. It was very funny. Funnier still was watching Lauren hop around under a freezing cold (mandatory) shower afterwards, that was until it was my go. Afterwards we lounged in a lovely hot mineral pool for as long as we pleased enjoying the blazing sunshine before setting off again, thoroughly relaxed and rejuvenated.

We had decided beforehand that we would return to the great campsite on the beach at Matata, we couldn’t get enough of the long white beach, the warm water and the fish and chips in the village. So we stayed for another two nights before continuing our journey towards Coromandel and Auckland, one of these nights Lauren was on a praying mantis rescue mission after witnessing a lady in the toilets trying to stamp on one, she scooped it up and released it into some bushes near our van, job well done. So after lazing on the beach for two days, both of us getting slightly sunburned despite it being the middle of autumn, we drove into Tauranga, a vibrant town full of character and surrounded by the sea on nearly all sides. The harbour was full of fancy boats and we enjoyed lunch in a café on the harbour front. We agreed that we would need some decent sized carry-on luggage when we leave the country (a little premature perhaps) so we took the chance when we saw a sale and bought a nice wheelie bag covered in butterflies, Laurens choice not mine. We really enjoyed the day in Tauranga but we had miles to cover so we headed a bit further along the coast to Waihi Beach where we found a nice holiday park and sat on the beach enjoying the afternoon sun until we were chased of the beach by the rising tide. We returned the following morning to the same spot on the beach and sat against a huge piece of driftwood, in the afternoon we drove up the coast and into the Coromandel Peninsula. The drive was scenic and passed through huge forests and twisted around the Coromandel mountain range, the journey was longer than expected and dusk was upon us as we climbed a steep gravel road outside of Whitianga to Otama Beach. The campsite there was little more than a field but was all we needed after the long drive, in the morning we were greeted with views of a sweeping sandy beach of spectacular yellow sand hemmed in by rugged rocky headlands at either end. We could have probably stayed here for a few days but an intimidating weather front loomed over us and we chose to escape over the somewhat dodgy road before we got rained on. That afternoon we set off westwards, crossing the peninsula to the town of Coromandel itself. A very quaint little town that reminded us of Arrowtown where we spent a few weekends whilst fruit picking, crammed with heritage buildings it looked like a scene out of a spaghetti western, we didn’t know whether to get a drink from the Golddiggers Liquor Store or go into The Saloon Bar. Finally we picked a campsite just out of town on the shelliest beach ever, it was called Shelly Beach unsurprisingly. The tide was out and the beach seemed to go for miles, we walked to the water’s edge and saw some locals digging for what we assumed were clams or cockles, we had a go ourselves but came up with nothing. The campsite was nice and had a great TV lounge so we treated ourselves to an evening of sky TV.

Our plan was to go and see some of the more remote parts of the peninsula, specifically the northern tip. This area is only accessible by what are shown on our map as orange lines, or unsealed roads. We have had some experience of these, the last orange road we drove on for any distance was 2 weeks into our trip to a place called Paurakanui, we got a puncture. Nevertheless we decided to brave it, half an hour of bone shattering driving later (along the scariest road topped with what looked like the sharpest gravel), we reached the end of the road and had arrived at Waikawau Bay. It was worth every mile, we pulled into a Department of Conservation campsite (the only sign of human presence around) that gave access to the beach along a nice walk through some sand dunes. The beach was golden and deserted, for four days we had the huge bay all to ourselves, it was paradise. On the first day I had a quick go at fishing and in just 2 hours had caught 5 nice sized mackerel, it was loads of fun! We collected shells and poked at sea anemones in the rock pools, before returning to our van and soaking up the last of the sun with a cold glass of gin and tonic, that we got from Golddiggers. After 3 nights and only a cold shower to wash in we began to smell a bit so we drove back along the gravelly track to Coromandel. Here we contemplated our next move and decided to head back to a section of the peninsula we missed on our drive up. Our first stop was Hot Water Beach, we checked into the nearby holiday park and rented a spade (it will become clear why), we walked along a beach to a steaming section of sand where we dug a hole and sat in it. A hot spring bubbles up from beneath the sand and fills the hole with hot water, this on its own however is far too hot at 62 degrees so the hole must be open to some of the seawater that flows in, getting a balance proved to be very difficult and there was a lot of inconspicuous syphoning of other peoples warm water from nearby pools. It was great fun and a nice atmosphere, one big wave destroyed my carefully constructed pool so we decided it was time to leave. We returned to our campsite and cooked something Lauren and I had been craving for a while, a ham and pineapple pizza. Yummy!

Over the next two days we visited some more of the Coromandel’s spectacular east coast beach’s including Hahei Beach and Cathedral Cove. At Cathedral Cove we bathed in the sun surrounded on all sides by tall cliffs and enormous archways, staring out at the tropical uninhabited islands off the coasts. The water was rough but that didn’t stop us from swimming and jumping through the waves before rinsing the sea water off under a nearby waterfall.

We left Coromandel after a great week where we were treated with nice warm weather for the most part and glorious beaches.

Next stop Auckland.