A Coromandel Jaunt - 1

The Coromandel is just around the corner from Tauranga, but we’ve been so busy doing far away things, that it’s only been in the last week that we got to explore this amazing part of New Zealand.

Nic took us to Waihi Beach and Bowetown.  The beach is at the far end of the Bay of Plenty – very much a holiday and retirement place.  You go past the town of Katikati (what a divine name!) and then turn towards the water.  The beach is flat, wide and hard and we had an amazing walk along it.  A trifle longer than we thought we would go – we looked down the beach towards the headland and decided it would take about an hour to get there, so set off gaily down the beach while Nic took the car down to the other end to meet us.  Well, it was much further than we estimated!  After over an hour, and about 5 and a bit km, we phoned Nic and said we were happy to walk the rest of the way, but lunch would be a good hour away as we were only half way!  So she came back and fetched us at the end of Waihi beach and took us to Bowentown.  This is a small settlement, mostly baches (beach cottages to the uninitiated) just the way the Mount (at Tauranga) used to be before it became big tourist bucks!  The view was amazing, with a close up view of Matakana Island – the barrier at the mouth of the bay – which we see from the Mount. 

On the way home we went to Omokoroa – another beach with amazing clear water and lots of retired people who have made their homes here.  If we win the Lotto and can spend the summers in New Zealand ……. And lots of room for everyone to visit.

Waihi Beach - we tried to walk down to the headland - to no avail

A photo stitch of the bay at Bowentown