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This is a collection of my blog entries related to short or long trips I went on.
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paris over many years | UK over many years | Belgium over many years | Holland over many years | Vegas over many years | Australia over many years | Canada over many years | Japan over multiple trips | Italy in 2011 | France in 2013 | Indonesia in 2013 | Japan in 2013 | Japan in 2014 | Taiwan in 2014 | Indonesia in 2014 | New Zealand in 2015 | Japan in 2015 | Costa Rica in 2015 | Singapore in 2016 | South Korea in 2016 | Japan in 2016 | Germany in 2016 | Tasmania 2017 | Japan in winter 2017 | Great Britain in 2017 | Australia Flying Safari 2017 | Philippines 2018 | Spain in 2018 | Alaska in 2019 | England in 2021 | UAE in 2021 | Poland in 2023 | Portugal in 2023 | Thailand in 2023 | Japan Snow 2024 |

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2015/01/23 New Zealand Days 14-15: 1.5 days around Coromandel, Bay of Plenty
π 2015-01-23 01:01 in Ntrips, Nz2015, Trips

After diving diving in Tutukaka, we took a bus back to Auckland, picked up a rental car, and drove towards Hahei. We lost 1.5h due to having to swap rental cars (the one we got in Auckland didn't have a trunk that could fit our luggage), and then we got stuck by an accident on the freeway out. Nonetheless we made it to hot water beach a bit late, but still in time to appreciate the hot water coming out of the sand which you could use to make your own hot pools given the right mix with cold water (the hot water on its own is scalding).



Next, we hiked to cathedral cove, a nice beach and cove that is usually filled with people but because we went there late (20:00), it was quite nice and quiet. The relative low tide also allowed us to cross the cove without getting our shoes wet (the next day, you had to swim across):







oyster catcher birds
oyster catcher birds

there was also a waterfall, nice...
there was also a waterfall, nice...


we then hiked back to our car and got to our B&B
we then hiked back to our car and got to our B&B

The next morning, we enjoyed a nice breakfast before going to the beach for our kayak tour:



interesting rock formation
interesting rock formation







cathedral cove see from the sea
cathedral cove see from the sea

this is where we crossed on foot the previous evening :)
this is where we crossed on foot the previous evening :)

looks like running around that corner to avoid the water wasn't going to work this time :)
looks like running around that corner to avoid the water wasn't going to work this time :)






After the kayak ride which was fun and scenic, there didn't seem to be much to do besides staying on the beach which isn't much what we enjoy doing :) so my hiking book recommended the Karangahake Gorge and its Windows Walk. It's a very scenic place which mostly made up for the unfortunate 3H it took to drive all the way there and back (with a detour via Waihi). In hindsight, we should have stayed in Waihi the 2nd night or actually gone all the way to Rotorua to be onsite for the next day.

Anyway, Karangahake Gorge was very pretty, unfortunately windows walk was closed in the tunnel, preventing us from doing the full loop and wasting some of our time while we figured out where we could go and where exactly the track was closed (inside a mining tunnel turns out, so when your loop is almost over, you have to turn back and do it all again in reverse).







From there, it was too late to go to Waihi Beach before Orokawa Beach Track, so we went to the later directly. WE just happened to be driving by another mining town along the way, and they had an open mine you could look at:



For Orokawa Beach, you had to park somewhere obscure and hike 30-45mn to the beach:




fresh waterfall
fresh waterfall


I went for a swim, but it was kind of dicey with all the rocks
I went for a swim, but it was kind of dicey with all the rocks

having a fresh shower afterwards was nice :)
having a fresh shower afterwards was nice :)

 I did apply sunscreen almost everywhere :)
I did apply sunscreen almost everywhere :)


From there, we had to drive back to Hahei which was a bit tedious. The mountain roads at night would have taken almost 2h for the average driver. Google gave me an optimistic 1h25 (it uses the speed limit without knowing that you can't typically drive 100kph on curvy mountain roads). Thankfully mountain roads are my bread and butter, so I did it in 1h15 :) .


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