The night before we drove through Coromandel in darkness, but in the morning we saw the peninsula in all of its glory. Not long did we stay at the hostel and went straight off to those famous beaches…
First stop was Hahei Beach. It is praised New Zealand’s most beautiful beach and does right by that award…

The view of Hahei Beach from far away.

 

 

Though one of the most famous beaches is the on at the Cathedral Cove. Behold yourself the wonders of nature:

 

 

Behind those rocks lies the bay.

 

 

You have to walk some steps, as the beach is accessible by foot only.

 

 

Many don’t fear this walk, as you are to be rewarded most handsomely:

 

 

Taking the load off the rock. 🙂

 

 

Through the Cathedral Cove (some weddings were held there, by the way) you get to another part of the beach.

 

 

…and this in winter! 😀

 

 

 

 

We had quite a long way ahead of us, as the next stay in Paihia had been booked beforehand and thus, we spent more time of the day inside our car than on those stunning beaches. Well, some photo stops we couldn’t say No to. 😉

 

 

I can’t think of how much I will miss this ever-present hillside!

 

 

A little way south of Coromandel you find the birthplace of the national beverage of New Zealanders: Paeroa.
After a long search (online you find but little information about the exact location) we found the main attraction of the city: The great L&P bottle. L stands for Lemon and P for the city name, of course. That one, again, stands for the source of the water for the drink. To whom it may be of question: It tastes like Sprite, only a tad sweeter… 🙂

 

 

After the bottle had been burned onto the memory card of the camera, I rewarded myself with some winterly contre-jour sunset shot.

 

 

As the light said its last goodbye for that day, we still had some way ahead of us, as Paihia lies way north of Auckland…
A short halt at Subway, much music and a colourful palette of topics to talk about helped us get there in the end. This accomodation we had booked using an online voucher and happily made use of the attached bathroom, the own kitchenette and much space at our disposal… 🙂

 

 

 

 

We saw: Hahei Beach, Cathedral Cove, the L&P landmark in Paeroa, several beaches on the side of the road and the Auckland skyline at night.