Rotorua to Hahei Beach

We left Rotorua for the Hahei Beach, in the Coromandel region of the North Island. We talked with the camp mangers at the Cozy Cottage Holiday Park in Rotorua and they recommended a holiday park right on the beach which was managed by a friend of theirs. So off we went on what we expected to be no more than a 3 hour drive. Well, even though it wasn’t that many kilometers, the road up to the Coromandel is quite twisty and curvy and because we had to go so much slower, we didn’t get to the holiday park until about 3:30. The terrain - I’m sure you’re going to get sick of hearing me say this! - was really gorgeous, with rolling hills that were so green, I really can’t describe the color……it was like the hills were covered with bright green velvet. Portions of the road also wound through a mountainous area filled tree ferns and evergreens. Another plant we’ve seen a LOT of all through New Zealand that is plentiful up here as well is the New Zealand Flax. It grows in large clumps and is found literally everywhere on both islands. After first seeing it, I remembered when we were in Boise I went to the nursery and bought a New Zealand Flax plant for the yard, and now I can see why - they’re so plentiful, they can easily be exported! Besides the flax, there is also lots and lots of pampas grass growing everywhere, which adds a really nice contrast to the green hills with their white plumes.

Like I said, after all the twisting and turning, we finally made it here and were able to score a beachfront site, so from the back of our campervan, we can actually see the waves rolling on the beach. There’s a path behind us that we can take down to the beach, so as soon as we got the campervan hooked up to the electricity, we locked up and went for a stroll along the beach. There are numerous outcroppings in the ocean, so it makes for pretty dramatic scenery with the waves crashing against the rocks. This area is famous for Cathedral Rock, which is a natural stone arch on a white sand beach. According to the information from the holiday park, it’s just an hour and a half walk down the beach, so we’ll plan on doing that tomorrow. It’s supposed to be a great area for kayaking, so maybe we’ll be able to rent a couple of kayaks and explore.

The other big attraction in this area is called Hot Water Beach. It’s just south of us and from what I understand there are thermal springs that well up under the beach, so for two hours on either side of low tide, you can take a spade to the beach and dig your own hot tub - how fun does that sound??!! We’ll try to fit that in tomorrow afternoon.

Well, that’s it for now…..Patsy Cline is playing and she’s starting to make us a little drowsy…….Buenos Noches to all…….