We were up and off fairly early this morning (for us!) from Tairua as we had a big day planned. First we drove about half an hour north to the little settlement of Hahei......straight to the beach to check out details for our 11am departure of the Hahei Explorer Cathedral Cove boat tour. As we were so early and the previous departure had cancellations we joined the 10am tour with an English couple and their grandson. Our hour long ride on an inflatable motor dinghy, with our skipper Shane, proved to be an absolute highlight! Such an awesome experience! We covered 14km of a truly spectacular volcanic coastline. Shane was a wealth of knowledge and information regarding the marine reserve area, it's history and geological formations and the marine and birdlife. Cathedral Cove is the most well known spectacle - and did not disappoint . The majestic white cliff faces of pumice and breccia rock and the vibrant greens and blues of the water were indescribable in their beauty. Champagne Bay (location for the Narnia film) and the various other rocky island outcrops were awesome. Was wonderful to see the schools of massive schnapper so readily visible in the crystal clear water, as well as the colonies of cormorants and red billed gulls - not to mention the couple of seals we spotted basking on the rocks. The Blowhole was another highlight - accessed through a sea cave, at high tide, exposing an 80ft high rock cylinder! Wow!
Enjoyed a coffee in the village before driving out to the Cathedral Cove car park and embarking on the trek to the cove on foot. Pretty chuffed that we did the 45 minute (predicted length) walk down in about 24 minutes ... And not all down hill lol....and thankfully was well worth every step! Just beautiful! So pristine - and was awesome to walk through the actual Cathedral archway! Soooo may photos! After the trek back (in similar time...) grabbed some lunch in the village and sat by the beach - so nice to enjoy the sunshine.
Next stop was a short drive to Hot Water Beach, still part of Mercury Bay - where Captain Cook sailed into in 1769 and witnessed the transit of Mercury across the Sun. We followed the plan and hired our spade, walked along the beach at low tide, dug our "hole" and sat in the extremely warm water....! Couldn't sit for too long as just became too hot - temperature can reach over 60 degrees! All quite bizarre!
From here it took us over an hour to drive across the peninsula on an incredibly slow windy road with constant evidence of recent rock "slips" - every hairpin bend revealed remnants of uncleared falls. Was evidently very dangerous during recent rain. At least the scenery was continually breathtaking!
Once in the little township of Coromandel Town we found a lovely holiday park, freshened up and wandered across the road to the Coromandel Hotel for dinner. Thoroughly enjoyed my "fish of the day" - Gernard..... Delicious!