NZ Road Trip: The Coromandel Peninsula 

Time is an illusion, it has often been said. Somehow in the process of returning home from California and then heading out here to New Zealand we have moved forward 21 hours, meaning that we’ve lost, somewhere, almost a full day of our lives. Whilst the 8 hours from California was effectively repaying the 8 we gained on the way out there, we won’t be reimbursed the other 13 until we go home from NZ in mid April. Given that delay, wouldn’t it be good if, like a savings account, it was possible to earn interest on the time invested? You know, be given bonus time in return for investment. In other words, we could perhaps have a day upon our return where we start something at, say, 4pm, do it for two hours, and then find it’s still 4pm when we finish. What would you do with those bonus hours? Be useful, wouldn’t they.

Anyway, our NZ companion, the Hyundai Tucson which will be our roadster throughout, starts its work with a faulty brake light prompting a short delay while extraction of failed lamp and replacement with new is effected, then we’re off through the industrial parks of the outskirts of Auckland and out into open country where we pass almost as many bakery cafes as we do trees. Unable to resist all, the Hyundai insists on pausing for a chunky sausage roll (called a “double happy”) and a coffee. We have a feeling this naughty Hyundai may insist on many similar stops over the next few weeks.

And then, after green mountains, rolling scenery, giant tree ferns and other trees which look uncannily like overgrown broccoli spears, we enter the Coromandel Peninsula via hairpins, inclines and descents and start to comment on how the unfolding countryside is already having a calming effect on our combined spirit. It’s very picturesque and unbelievably relaxing on the eye. The land flattens out on to a plain as we near the coast, turning left at Woolworths (the Woolworths here are useful, well stocked food stores) to our next temporary abode in the little town of Whitianga. For “abode”, read “bach”, more on that word later.

Whitianga is so immediately appealing, its waterfront facing a deep blue creek boundered by tree covered cliffs, a quaint ferry carrying passengers back and forth across the short strait, anglers lined up along the shore. The laid back High Street boasts all manner of local shops (shoes, dresses, bicycles, kebabs) as the waves lap gently along Buffalo Beach, named after a Royal Navy vessel which foundered here in 1840. As first impressions go, Whitianga ticks every box and it really is love at first sight for both of us.

Brian The Boatman is in good humour as he talks us and three other couples through the boat ride ahead, which turns out to be two hours of spectacular coastline featuring a succession of sizeable sea caves. It’s a fun, high speed experience on Brian’s fast boat, too, journeying past remote golden beaches, dramatic rock formations eroded by wind and sea, drifting also into a collapsed cave open to the sky.

With the boat fun over, we take a 2-hour hike up and along the cliff path, past Shakespeare’s Cliff (named by Captain Cook as he felt the cliff shape resembled The Bard’s face), the remote Lonely Bay, a beach as secluded as the name suggests, and back to Whitianga town on the ferry. The wider area of coastline around Whitianga is named Mercury Bay, due to the fact that Cook spent many hours here studying the movement of the planet Mercury in order to plot the latitude and longitude of his location. Imagine being that esoteric. Imagine being that clever. 

(We should state here that the place names we are using are the English names given by settlers, everywhere also carries its original, infinitely more exotic Maori name, we’ll use some of these later).

It’s hard to overstate how lovely Whitianga is, we have felt instantly at home here in these beautiful surroundings which also make it the perfect base from which to explore the Coromandel Peninsula. The drive across to the other side, from Whitianga to Coromandel Town itself, takes us along the east coast, up over the mountains, through the central plain and then over the next mountain range into the small town on the west coast, most of the journey along snaking tarmac of endless tight bends in beautiful scenery.

From Coromandel Town we catch the rather wonderful and eccentric Driving Creek Railway, a narrow gauge affair which climbs nearly four hundred feet up the mountain to a viewing platform at the top which is amusingly named the Eyefull Tower. This entire railway was the brainchild of, and personally constructed by, a madly eccentric sounding individual named Barry Brickell who lived a mostly reclusive life indulging in pottery, conservation work and, well, building the railway. The last of these was no mean feat, climbing terrain completely unsuitable for any kind of transport let alone a railway, and needing 10 bridges, 3 tunnels, 3 reverse switchbacks and 2 spirals. One spiral is so tight that the track crosses the same bridge twice, on a different level of the double decker structure each time.

Also from Coromandel Town we take a hike through a Kauri tree trail, passing amongst others a famous and majestic specimen thought to be an incredible 1200 years old. Ironically, this tree’s imperfection has been its saviour, believed to have survived felling due to its partially twisted trunk which would have made it less attractive to potential buyers thanks to the knots present in such a misshapen tree. Incidentally, the name “Driving Creek” comes from the kauri felling era – trees felled on the mountains were too heavy and difficult to transport by conventional means, so the logs were dropped into the cascading mountain rivers to race to the bottom where a manmade barrage halted their progress. Waterways used in this way were known as…driving creeks.

Returning to our bach (another new word for us, but it seems that out here a “bach” – pronounced “batch” and a derivative of “bachelor pad” – is what holiday homes like these are termed), we wallow for a while in the hot tub thoughtfully provided by our host, and unwind to talk yet again about what a wonderful and peaceful setting we currently find ourselves in. This little town is very special.

Everything and everybody tells us the scenery will get more and more dramatic as we head south through NZ, but wow the Coromandel, and particularly Whitianga, have already left a lasting impression. Love it here.