Admittedly, the start of our planned 3-4 days on the Coromandel Peninsula was not that easy. For the first time since the start of our journey at the end of December, we actually had half a day of rainy weather, and the first campsite didn't quite live up to our expectations. But, of course, we were not discouraged by either of these and continued with our travel plan. On the second day on the truly beautiful peninsula, we drove from Thames to Coromandel Town and further north, looking for a nice campsite.
Once again, we relied on the DoC (Department of Conservation) campsites in New Zealand and chose the most promising one. While wild camping with fully equipped motorhomes is allowed in most parts of the North Island, tent campers have to set up their cozy home in designated campsites. The object of our desire enticed us with a beautiful sandy beach and designated cooking facilities. However, to reach it, we had to drive about 25 km on a quite adventurous coastal gravel road, and we did consider continuing the road more than once. In the end, we drove to Port Jackson, the previously chosen campsite (at the very north of the peninsula), and were rewarded with the most beautiful campsite in New Zealand so far. Tip: The really challenging road to Port Jackson is worth it if the weather is good. However, make sure to bring enough supplies, as there are absolutely no stores, and plan to stay at least 2 nights to make the trip worthwhile.
When we arrived at the campsite, we were greeted by the best and funniest camp host so far, and of course, we immediately secured the best spot with a great view.
After setting up our campsite and just as the weather changed to brilliant sunshine, we immediately decided to stay one more night. Then, we went for a first beach walk on the approximately 3 km long sandy beach, where we saw an incredible variety of different shells =) Thankfully, in this case, we had "beer for special occasions" with us, rather than "emergency beer," which we enjoyed right after dinner. The real highlight of the day, however, was the breathtaking sunset... On the next day, it was all about relaxing, and it was the first day in New Zealand where absolutely nothing was planned. We used the day, for example, to secure and organize our pictures, to read, and to write blog posts. The workplace for this could have been worse... ;-D After our stay in Port Jackson, we headed south and visited some highlights of the Coromandel Peninsula. For this, we drove the connecting road between Coromandel Town and Whitianga (road 309), another gravel road =D, and visited a beautiful waterfall and another Kauri forest along the way. This was necessary because Tobi certainly didn't forget his colleagues' to-do of hugging a Tane Mahuta ;-D. Since you are not allowed to hug the actual Tane Mahuta, we chose one of its slightly younger but equally impressive brothers instead. After that, we headed to our next campsite, a secret tip from New Zealand campers. It was a bit crazy and not one of the usual DoC campsites, but it was super equipped. Also, it was perfectly located for us, and after doing our laundry, we could explore the Cathedral Cove and Hot Water Beach nearby.Both are absolute highlights that should not be missed on any trip to New Zealand, but unfortunately, they are crowded with tourists.The hustle and bustle on the Hot Water Beach was particularly crazy. It is a sandy beach where masses of people flood the beach with shovels or spades, 2 hours before and after low tide, to dig a hole. The reason for this is the magma bubble located just under the beach, which pushes 2 hot water springs (Maori and Orua) to the surface. The springs have temperatures of 64° and 60°, so every visitor can dig their own little thermal bath in the sand. We watched this spectacle with fascination and, of course, also dug a small foot thermal bath for ourselves.
