Tairua & Coromandel Peninsula

Wednesday 6th  - Friday 8th March 2013

On Wednesday we drove up to Coromandel Town, lunching at the Coromandel Mussel I Kitchen - this is looking a bit like a mussell and beer tour with not so much kayaking!

On the way back from Coromandel Town we stopped off at Waihi Falls for the (very) short walk to the falls.

On returning to Tairua I wlked up Mt Paku, the old (7-8 million yo) volcanic remnant behind our accommodation. Part of the walk is winding up past the palatial homes (& occassional older bach) to the reserve at the top of the hill - magnificent view! The way down was much quicker as I managed to find all the walkways that were not obvious on the way up - sets of stairs and right-of-ways that appeared to parallel people's driveways & even seemed to go through their yards (that's how they looked from below).



Mussels at the Coromandel Mussel Kitchen in Coromandel Town




Waihi Falls

Looking up Tairua Harbour and Pauanui from the summit of Mt Paku

Thursday was another day that looked a bit ordinary at the start of the day, dull, overcast & even a bit drizzly, but fined up in the afternoon. We drove to Hauhei for the walk to Cathedral Cove after lunch - the sun came out and really did the place justice. There are kayak tours to Cathedral Cove from Hauhei, but it's only a couple of kilometres. We did the walk in & out of the coves, before arriving in Cathedral Cove (a busy spot!) and had a swim. We walked through the big arch (tht features in the movie Prince Caspian).

The Arch at Cathedral Cove