Driving the Coromandel Peninsula – Day 2
On Day 2 we needed to end up in Aongatete, which is near the Bay Of Plenty, so we decided to drive the Coromandel Peninsula.
We were up and out of our AirBnb and on the highway at 9:15. It was another very wet day, but I would imagine that under ideal conditions driving the Coromandel Peninsula would be spectacularly breathtaking. Much of of the drive is along narrow windy roads the follow the coast. We had less than ideal conditions, and although it was extremely wet, and at points so foggy/misty that visibility was reduced to less than 100 meters we still managed to thoroughly enjoy ourselves.
We stopped a number of times along the way at various lookouts, rest stops and pretty locations. There was always ample opportunity to get gas or an espresso or meal – so even though it looks like a wild and remote drive, you are never too far from civilization.
We arrived at our next AirBnb around 4pm. It was a beautiful property on a working Kiwifruit farm. Our hosts were incredible and had made us homemade yoghurt, muesli, ginger loaf, and supplied us with some cheese and crackers to nibble on as we got settled in. We spent a couple hours settling in and resting up before making our way to the Waimarino Adventure Park for an evening of sea kayaking and glow worm viewing! We were supposed to start with some wine and cheese and crackers on the dock as the sun set, but it was raining so we enjoyed the nibbles inside where it was dry. There were 3 other people on the tour with us – a couple who lived just up the road and their cousin from the UK.
The rain was still coming down pretty heavy, so we weren’t able to take our good camera with us in the kayaks. Sunny did wrap his phone in a ziplock bag and then wrapped that in a dry-sac, but it was pouring way too hard to even try to pull it out to snap some pics of the glow worms. Even though we didn’t get any pictures, it was still a great experience. Kayaking when its pitch black out was a really neat experience!
We made our way back our AirBnb, had some snacks and watched a movie before calling it a night around midnight.
You can see the rest of our trip here:
