Thursday 30th April

We are due to leave this beautiful spot at Opoutere this morning. but before doing so I just had to publish a photo of the view we had over the creek from the hostel whilst eating our breakfast outside.

I spoke to the only other 'hosteller' his morning and he said this place closes tomorrow for 6 months. Boy, were we lucky!

After having our ‘breakfast with a view’, we loaded the car and left that little bit of New Zealand paradise - only to find some more.
We drove north on State Highway 25 as far as Whenuakite then took a detour to visit ‘Cathedral Cove’, near Hahei. I had heard of this place before and pictures of it are used for Coromandel Peninsula publicity. It was a lovely clear day with a few clouds, which was lucky because I knew I would want to take lots of photos. On arrival at the car park, we thought we were there - wrong! We discovered it was a 45 minute walk to the cove so after sustaining ourselves with coffee and carrot cake muffins we set off.
It was a beautiful coastal walk through bush and was very steep both up and down in places, but on arrival at the cove we decided it was worth every puff and step! What a place. Completely unspoiled, unlittered sand, blue sky and blue sea with white crashing waves. The ‘cathedral’ itself was huge - not just a cavern in the rock but an arch shaped tunnel joining two beaches. Awesome!

And I do have to mention the loo!! It was a new wooden building, up a flight of steps and although it as a chemical loo and a little bit smelly - that didn‘t matter at all because there was a huge picture window opposite the seat overlooking the pohutukawa trees and beach - the best ‘loo with a view’ I have ever been in! (On the subject of loos I have to report that neither of us had to take a night-time walk last night at the hostel, thank goodness!)
We stayed at the cove for about half an hour, strolling along the beach and soaking up the atmosphere. There were a few other people there, but not enough to spoil it.
After the long walk back we headed off in the car again to Whitianga for lunch. All the roads we have been along on this peninsula are very scenic - we either drove over mountains, drove in pretty valleys between them or drove along the beautiful coastline. Whitianga was a nice coastal town - the usual straight, wide streets and covered pavements There were expensive looking boats moored in the estuary, and long sandy tree-lined beaches with a backdrop of wooded hills. Some of the coastal houses literally had the beach at the bottom of their gardens - lucky owners!
From there we headed westwards towards Coromandel town, over the top of the northern end of the Coromandel mountain range - a very steep and twisty road both up and down. We are booked in ‘The Admiral’s Arms’ for two nights. The accommodation consists of 4 or 5 bedrooms - we have a twin room - and there are shared bathrooms and a nice clean shared kitchen and TV lounge. The snag? This is a pub and we are over a large bar and tonight is karaoke night! The other couple staying here have been here before and assure us it will not be noisy. Time will tell ….
Today has been a fabulous day and the Coromandel Peninsula has more than lived up to my expectations - it is beautiful here.