The Coromandel Peninsula East Coast

One very famous natural attraction in New Zealand is Hot Water Beach. So, at the weekend of Auckland Anniversary day, I decided to finally go for it. So off I go, first exploring the east coast of the peninsula, and then put up my tent at Hot Water Beach.

It seems so simple. There’s a couple of natural hot water springs on the beach, so if you dig a hole, hot water will well up from the beach, and you have your own self made hot spa pool. Easy, right? But then you first need to find some room to dig your hole. And, you can only dig your hole at low tide.

Hmm, that’s of course not true. You can also dig a hole at high tide. Only, you won’t get any hot water. Which is not good for your motivation.

But low tide is happy hour. One colleague of mine once told me he couldn’t find a spot to dig his hole. But early in the morning it will still be calm. And this weekend, low tide is around 8am. Ideal.

First I went along the east coast of the Coromandel Peninsula. There’s lot of nice beaches and coves there. A bit to the north west captain Cook went ashore, in a place which is now called Cooks Beach.

Lonely Bay and Cooks Beach

The beach on the background is Cooks Beach. On the foreground you see Lonely Bay, a smaller beach surrounded by cliffs and subtropical rain forest, which gives it an intimate atmosphere. You can only get there on foot. However, it’s not as lonely as the name is telling you…

Further down the coast you’ll come by Cathedral Cove, which is named after an impressive passage through the rocks between two beaches.

The beach at Cathedral Cove

This is the view from the beach. I didn’t take a picture of the cathedral part—but you can find plenty of them on the internet.

Then it was time to drive to Hot Water Beach and put up my tent. And rent a spade to go playing on the beach.

Greetings,
Roeland