Coromandel Region

The Coromandel Region is supposedly one of the nicest areas in the whole country. With 400km of coastline, the Coromandel is the perfect place for a beach holiday. This is where Kiwis go on holiday and it is easily accessible from the largest city, Auckland. There are many great places to visit and the first place we spent a night was Thames.

Thames is 120km SE of Auckland and is the peninsulas oldest town. Thames has evolved from a gold mining hotbed in the 1920s to a center for local agriculture. Apparently locals have the saying that when the gold ran out, "Thames went to sleep awaiting the kiss of a golden prince - and instead it awoke to the warm breath of a cow!" The main street used to be lined with nearly 100 hotels (bars). Only 5 of these hotels still remain as everyone dissapeared as soon as the gold did.

Some of the highlights for us from the region included :

Hot Water Beach which is a strange beach as a warm spring seeps beneath the beach. At low tide you can access this part of the beach and by scooping a shallow hole in the sand, you can create a pool of warm water. The deeper you dig, the hotter the water becomes. The water temperature can reach 65C.






















Hahei Beach is one of the main beaches in the region and was a good place to lie and soak up the sun. Whilst here there was a wedding taking place at the far end of the beach. After a few minutes we could hear bagpipes being played horribly out of tune. There was a tractor that was driving along the beach with the culprit on the back killing the pipes wearing a kilt.















Cathedral Cove is a spectacular rock formation of white cliffs and a naturally archway beside a sandy bay. To get here you have to walk on a track along the coast line that offers good views of Mercury Bay.