Out and About on the Coromandel Peninsula
The Coromandel Peninsula has a mystique that haunts every visitor, tempting them back, time after time, and you may find yourself altering your plans to do just that.
From the 1960s, the Coromandel has attracted many who felt alienated by contemporary society and communities with their own values came and went. The oldest of them all, Wilderness, continues to this day, selling its organic produce on a roadside stall. There are 17 environmental groups in the Coromandel, protecting its unique environmental assets, including the delicate sand dune vegetation at Whiritoa. After 200 years of timber milling and 140 years of gold mining, the Coromandel is still pulling out gems that attract 750,000 visitors every year.
Around Thames
Thames (population 7000) is the largest town on the peninsula. Between 1876 and 1924, about 1500 mines recovered 70 tons of gold and silver bullion and there are plenty of remnants in the town to remind you of that. A few minutes out of town, the Kauaeranga Valley attracts 180,000 visitors every year and many of them do the three hour walk to the 80-bed Pinnacles Hut in the Coromandel Peninsula Forest Park. You can also visit the restored Dancing Camp Dam, the second largest of the 100 kauri dams built on the Coromandel.
The peninsula offers a handy loop road around the mountainous interior. From Thames you can head north to Coromandel town and
Colville (hired vehicles are not insured on the narrow gravel roads north of Colville), or east on a more direct route to the eastern beaches that the Coromandel Peninsula is famous for.
North Coromandel
The Thames road north, clinging to the rocky and pohutukawa-lined coast, is a beautiful drive so allow plenty of time to stop frequently and relax. A place more relaxing than most is the
Rapaura Watergardens, a few kilometres down the Tapu/Coroglen Road. Every centimetre of these 2.5 hectares and 14 ponds gets plenty of attention from Andrew Lilburn, who has been gardener here for the past 15 years. You'll find the welcome sign to be true: 'May the spirit of the valley bring you a happy day.'
Many of the alternative lifestylers found themselves around the Coromandel town area and the town maintains an old-world charm. On the outskirts is the
Driving Creek Railway, built by potter Barry Brickell, whom locals dubbed the first hippie. Over a 20 year period, the single gauge railway he built to haul raw clay to his workshops has unintentionally become one of Coromandel's top attractions.
You're never far from a round of golf in New Zealand and on the south side of Whangapoua Harbour is the international standard nine-hole Matarangi Golf Links, designed in 1987 by New Zealand golfing great, Bob Charles. On the north side of Whangapoua Harbour is New Chums Beach, renowned for its surf.
The East Coast
The hub of the east coast is the
Whitianga/Mercury Bay area, bordering Te Whanganui A Hei Marine Reserve. At Hot Water Beach at low tide, dig a crater and enjoy the hot springs bubbling up through the sand. Cathedral Cove, a 30-minute walk from yet another stunning seaside town, Hahei, shows off the white cliffs, green bush and blue waters that typify this stretch of coast. You'll find horse riding, sea kayaking, cruise boats, fishing boats, diving and more in this area.
The view over Mercury Bay from Shakespeare Cliff is as stunning as the tiny Whitianga River Ferry is cute. It plies continuously between Ferry Landing, the oldest wharf in New Zealand, and Whitianga (population 4000). This eastern Coromandel seaboard is blessed with good beaches like Lonely Bay,
Whangamata and
Pauanui. Many attractions don't shout to be heard around here and one of the joys of the Coromandel is finding gems along the quiet roads which you'll inevitably drive or walk along.
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