Coromandel is the Hamptons for Auckland… and we were heading there on a weekend with great beach weather. Finding a place to stay was stressful and we ended up staying in a slightly suspect house in the back yard of a bed and breakfast. It was cheap and did the job, but we kept having to get Bryce away from the rust swing set in the yard.
On the way to Coromandel, we stopped at Karanghake Gorge, and old mining site that has been converted into a super cool park and swimming spot. We walk through old mining tunnels and Bryce loved it. The tunnels went deep into the mountain, so deep that Danielle made us turn back before we reached the end. We then did an hour of rock throwing practice in the George before continuing on the way. Once we arrived at our little house, we unpacked the SUV and headed to the bay for some swimming.
The sites to see in Coromandel are Cathedral Cove and Hot Water Beach. We were warned by others and the internet that these are awesome sites, but they are crowded. Cathedral Cove was a mile and a half hike which I hoped would thin the crowd… I thought wrong. The Cove is 2 beaches separated by a long cathedral shaped tunnel. The beach was beautiful and the crowds weren’t that bad compared to ANYTHING drivable from NYC.
Our final stop was Hot Water Beach. The thing to do at hot water beach is to rent a shovel, did about 2 feet down and sit in the hot water and sand as if it were a hot tub on the beach. Let me layout the relaxing scene that we arrived to… First the area that has hot sand is relatively small so you have a hundred tourists with shovels digging in the same small space. There actually wasn’t even enough space to make new holes so tourists were jumping into open holes like a bunch of hermit crabs looking for a shell. Then you have kids everywhere digging with shovels throwing sand. The whole thing could have been the least relaxing place I have ever seen… that’s not even to mention it was 90 degrees and sitting in hot sandy water sounded terrible. The Davis made a quick exit and went to dinner.
