New Zealand - Coromandel Penisula
Leaving our home base from Auckland, we headed East by car to the Coromandel Peninsula, taking the scenic winding and beautiful coastal road. Although the weather was cool, cooler than average, the sun made for some beautiful photos, we soaked in the incredibly green rolling hills and coastal views.. oohing and ahhing along the way. Green lip mussels are well known in New Zealand and the Peninsula is one of the best places to try some... in fact, we helped ourselves at the local supermarket in Whitianga, our home for the night. $2 (US) for 1 kilo (2.2 lbs).... fresh and huge mussels! We made full use of the community kitchen and whipped up a meal of sauteed mussels in a garlic wine butter sauce over brown rice and veggies on the side. Yum!
We started bright and early the next morning to drive south to the Hot Water Beach. This beach has 2 small thermal springs under the sand, so near low tide people come and dig shallow holes near the springs to make small baths to soak in, mixing the hot spring water with cold seawater. We borrowed a shovel from some early birds and after 2 attempts, found the ideal spot for a warm spa with a beatiful ocean front view - a great way to start the day! This was definitely one of the highlights of our North Island experience (highly recommended on our list).
After our home-made spa treatment, we rushed back to Whitianga for breakfast and continued our trek south to the Bay of Plenty. We had another beautiful day of driving along this coast, which is a popular weekend and vacation spot for kiwis due to the warm weather and close proximity to Auckland. We did a nice hike on the Peninsula at Cathedral cove... a gorgeous trek consisting of coastal sights and NZ ferntree rainforest with a beatiful beach and cover as our reward in the end.
Since we were making good time, we made it to Tauranga with just enough time to do our first NZ wine tasting at Mills Reef winery; our first exposure to NZ wine tasting and we liked what we tasted - we bought a bottle of malbec to be consumed along with perhaps a future gourmet dinner. From there, we continued onto Mt. Manganui where we spent the night at a B&B. We had been told the town is right next to an old volcano that is a nice short hiking area and provides great views, so we decided to stay there.
Mt. Manganui and Tauranga were busy little towns. We arrived around rush hour so there was a good bit of NZ traffic, but once we got into Mt Manganui there was few people around. We had just enough time that night to hike up the volcano and take in beautiful panoramic views of the Bay of Plenty just before sunset! Well worth the hike up.
From Mt. Manganui, we headed down to Rotorua for some Maori culture and thermal spas.
We started bright and early the next morning to drive south to the Hot Water Beach. This beach has 2 small thermal springs under the sand, so near low tide people come and dig shallow holes near the springs to make small baths to soak in, mixing the hot spring water with cold seawater. We borrowed a shovel from some early birds and after 2 attempts, found the ideal spot for a warm spa with a beatiful ocean front view - a great way to start the day! This was definitely one of the highlights of our North Island experience (highly recommended on our list).
After our home-made spa treatment, we rushed back to Whitianga for breakfast and continued our trek south to the Bay of Plenty. We had another beautiful day of driving along this coast, which is a popular weekend and vacation spot for kiwis due to the warm weather and close proximity to Auckland. We did a nice hike on the Peninsula at Cathedral cove... a gorgeous trek consisting of coastal sights and NZ ferntree rainforest with a beatiful beach and cover as our reward in the end.
Since we were making good time, we made it to Tauranga with just enough time to do our first NZ wine tasting at Mills Reef winery; our first exposure to NZ wine tasting and we liked what we tasted - we bought a bottle of malbec to be consumed along with perhaps a future gourmet dinner. From there, we continued onto Mt. Manganui where we spent the night at a B&B. We had been told the town is right next to an old volcano that is a nice short hiking area and provides great views, so we decided to stay there.
Mt. Manganui and Tauranga were busy little towns. We arrived around rush hour so there was a good bit of NZ traffic, but once we got into Mt Manganui there was few people around. We had just enough time that night to hike up the volcano and take in beautiful panoramic views of the Bay of Plenty just before sunset! Well worth the hike up.
From Mt. Manganui, we headed down to Rotorua for some Maori culture and thermal spas.
posted by Xavier at 3:07 PM
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