Oct 17, 2025 End of the Road
We drove to the end of the road at the tip of the Coromandel peninsula today. A beautiful day for a (gravel) road trip!
Looking down at Port Jackson Bay from the road. A primitive campground lines the beach with very few amenities. Bring your own water and supplies and haul your garbage and recyclables out!
Fletcher Bay at the end of the road (or the beginning of the Coromandel Coastal Walkway). The sea water is crystal clear out around the rocks at the end of the bay.
Oct 16, 2025 Beaches
Sunrise at Kūaotunu Beach.
A 20 minute drive over a ridge to Opito Bay brought us to 2 more beaches.
The farthest beach is Opito Bay Beach, a wide sandy expanse at low tide.
Halfway back over the ridge you drop down to Otama Beach, with a rope and stick swing at one end, and a rocky headland at the other end.
Oct 15, 2025 Kuaotunu
We moved today to another B&B on the east side of the peninsula, in the tiny village of Kūaotunu (pronounced “koo-ow-t00-noo”). A real beachy town, with a sweeping walkable sand beach and short drives or long walks to neighboring beaches.
The colorfully painted bathroom at the east end of Kuaotunu beach.
The bluffs border the east end of the beach.
You can walk the beach, or up on the small bluff, along the paved sidewalk.
The west side of the beach ends with dramatic rocky outcrops.
Oct 11, 2025 Karaka Track
A hike in the woods, along a stream! With mining history.
The woods. Hiking under the huge tree ferns, using fallen fronds to cover the muddy areas of track. Enjoying the cool shade and gentle breeze.
The stream. Occasional waterfalls, some obscured by the dense vegetation. The gurgle and splash as the water wears down the hard rock.
The mines. Some at the beginning of the trail gated, others open, but water filled. The miners must have been short!
Oct 10, 2025 Coromandel Town
Road trip! North up the west side of the peninsula to the town of Coromandel, once a hub of the gold mining boom of the 1860’s-70’s that ultimately was abandoned in the 1930’s, east across the mountainous peninsula on a gravel road to Coroglen, then back west over the mountains on another gravel road! 71.5 miles with a waterfall, Kauri groves, fabulous views and quiet hikes in the forest.
The colorful town of Coromandel. The peninsula was a hippy haven in the 1970’s and has become an upscale vacation home destination for wealthy Kiwis with an environmental conservation ethic.
Waiau Falls, a tranquil stop along remote road 309.
The siamese twin Kauri, two trees that grew together and somehow avoided the logger’s axe and saw.
A lone kauri towering over the forest across a ravine from the road.
‘The square kauri’, estimated to be 1200 years old is just meters from the gravel road. A steep, 187 steps trail leads up to the viewing platform next to the trunk, with the huge canopy another 144 feet up!
