So now the real journey begins. The three men join up with their campervan to embark on their journey across the country. First stop, the Coromandel Peninsula, Hot Water Beach and Cathedral Cove. The Coromandel Peninsula is known as the beach vacation area of choice for the wealthy in Auckland. We decided to only visit two beaches on this peninsula.
Hot Water Beach is a beach in which thermal springs reside underneath the sand and people dig holes in the sand that then fill with the hot thermal water. This can only be done at low tide where the water is low enough for people
to make the holes near the source. We unfortunately reached the beach at high tide and were unable to make our mark. It was a perfectly sunny evening so we enjoyed the sand and surf instead.
After a good but little disappointing experience at Hot Water, we decided to travel north about 9km to Cathedral Cove. This famous beach is named after an arch rock formation separating two coves. We arrived there just before sunset and watched the sun set to the east. This has to be the highlight of the trip thus far. That night the sky grew dark and cold. The rain and wind pounded our little castle reminding us all that it was still winter here.
The next day was a sprint across the heart land of the North Island. From Coromandel we headed south to Wellington only stopping for gas and nature’s necessities. The drive was lengthy and took us much longer than we anticipated. Our wonderful little camper van (we nicknamed Penelope or Penny for short) has the engine fit for a Yogo. Cursing was fine but she struggled immensely to climb any hill. We ended up stopping at nightfall at a small beach town about 2hrs north of Wellington for the night.
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