Coromandel Peninsula

Our next destination was the Coromandel Peninsula west of Auckland. We chose a campsite right on the water in Whitianga, a pretty town on the east side of the peninsula, as our starting point. It is large enough to provide all necessary services. We stayed there for 4 days, the last 2 days in a cabin instead of a tent due to the incoming rain. Cabins are simple huts in campsites, extremely practical for hanging out in the rain. And it happens here from time to time.

The Coromandel Peninsula has some very beautiful beaches on its coasts, with a mountain range running through the middle. So you have great views of the sea while touring.

A day trip took us first on the partly gravel SH 309 inland. Scenic and with the attraction of a waterfall and a pig farmer who keeps wild pigs and chickens in a kind of junkyard. As the animals also wandered around on the road, we inevitably had to stop, and the wild pigs even sniffed our mopeds. We continued through Coromandel to Colville, a village where some artists and dropouts live. Very nice there, we had good coffee in a creatively designed cafe. Only a few tourists make it up here, so the atmosphere is very relaxed.

It's quite different at Hot Water Beach, a tourist highlight of the area. There are small but almost boiling hot springs bubbling out of the sand at certain spots. That's why people come in hordes with shovels to dig a hole and bathe in the hot water. The trick is to find the right mix between hot water and incoming waves, so that the temperature is right. Only a few succeeded, most people were busy digging. Only a few sat relaxed in the water hole. And the crowds of people! The romantic description in the travel guide has little to do with the reality on the ground. So we left our moped stuff on and moved on to Cathedral Cave Beach. A steep one-hour hike leads down to this beautiful beach. Definitely worth seeing, but also quite crowded due to its proximity to Hot Water Beach. We definitely liked the remote inland and the northern tip better.

But Whitianga will certainly remain in our memories for a different reason: in the second night, the sirens went off at 2 in the morning. At first, we thought it was a fire alarm in one of the houses nearby, but we didn't see anything. Suddenly, the first campervan left the campsite, and we heard the first cars driving in the vicinity. The caretaker then came up to us and said, "Tsunami alert. Take your bikes and leave the city!" So we quickly put on our moped gear, put a few things in the aluminum boxes, and left. Since Whitianga is completely flat and surrounded by water, we had to drive about 6 km until the next hill came. There we stood in the middle of the night with hundreds of other cars. Luckily, after about an hour, the all-clear was given, and we could go back. We were back in the tent by 4 o'clock. And then we also knew that it was a severe earthquake... we immediately received several inquiries from concerned people on our cell phones asking about our well-being... luckily, we were not in the earthquake region.