Welcome back! I trust your 2025 has started on the path you had anticipated - or better! I am blessed to share that my 2025 has been filled of friendly people, warmer temperatures, beautiful landscapes, good health and a home baked cookie (a gift from the guy in reception at current hotel).
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| What message is the universe sending? |
We continue our travels up New Zealand's East Coast starting in Tuaranga, across the Coromandel Peninsula, travel around the Firth of Thames, dart across the country to Piha on the West Coast for a quick visit before returning to Auckland by Wednesday afternoon for the remainder of the week. The East Coast weather has been consistently much warmer; regular application of sunblock required. Apparently, the area north of Tuaranga (Coromandel Peninsula) has a favourable microclimate that makes it a desirable vacation and retirement destination.
My initial travel details within Australia are now finalized; hotel for the first three nights in Perth along with car rental from January 30 to February 25 are booked. I plan to drive along the coast south of Perth as far as Esperance. My flight to Bali is booked for February 25 to coincide with returning the rental car. The proposed destination after a month in Indonesia is Sri Lanka for a yet to be determined amount of time to visit with friends and some touristy stuff. Maldives continues to be on my itinerary (starting week of April 7 perhaps?) after Sri Lanka.
If you have an hour for yourself in the weeks ahead, you might enjoy listening to this John O'Donohue interview. John, who unexpectedly passed away in 2008 at the tender age of 52, was a gifted orator, poet, and Celtic philosopher. I rediscovered the interview this week along with finding additional interviews with him on YouTube. My good friend Amanda had shared this gift with me last year; one of those special gifts that keeps on giving.
Travel Administration
This week's focus is on some small items that are so handy to have on a trip. More below.
Travel Maps
Tracking this past week's travel: North Island Travel - As of January 18, 2025. My North Island travels now appear in two links: December 1 - December 21 and December 22 - January 18, 2025 below.
Please note: I was unable to include taking the ferry from the Auckland Ferry Terminal to Rangitoto Island along with my hiking to the summit, to MacKenzie Bay and return to the island's wharf in last week's map update.
November 1 - November 30
December 1 - December 21
December 22, 2024 - January 18, 2025
Tauranga
We start the week in Tauranga; NZ's busiest port, by volume, that is according to my newest best friend Pete. I met Pete on my descent from climbing Mount Maunganui. Pete is a self confessed NZ baby boomer who retired from his secondary school teaching job, relocating to the Tauranga area. He was a wealth of information about the local area, like the shipping volume, and was willing to share - if someone had the interest. He shared an interesting observation that he and a group of his peers had made about what a blessed life they had lived in New Zealand. Good health care, reasonable living conditions, lack of international conflicts and the list goes on. He's that guy who carries a bag with him to pick up the trash left by others. The universe shines its benevolent light on my travels one more time!
I learned at the isite centre that climbing this mount is one of those must do activities when visiting. Tauranga and surrounding area is primarily a beach location where people spend their time during summer vacation and the holiday break.
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Looks like an easy climb from the distance,
right? |
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| Nice beach and boating location |
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| Looking down after the climb |
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If you read this sign, you'll notice getting
to the top involves a 'steep' ascent! |
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Recognizing somebody for
doing something
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| Some monument with a piece of jade |
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| Jade up close |
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Everything you want to know about
finding stars |
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| Beauty as far as the eye can see |
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| More info |
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| Even more info |
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This island was recently returned to the Maori people
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| The hiking trail - looking up |
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| The hiking trail - looking down |
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| Carving explanation |
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Pete pointed out this craving. He witnessed
the person complete the carving prior
to its placement in this location at the
foot of the mount |
Whitianga
The next stop on my travels going north was Whitianga, another beach town with an internal waterway with big houses and big boats! Smaller version of what I saw in One Tree Point. My penchant for booking accommodations at the last minute meant staying overnight at a motel away from the beach. The hidden gem in this stay was meeting Choi, the motel manager who moved to NZ from South Korea. He was the kindest and most helpful person you'd want to meet. He was also agreeable to helping me with my proposed travel plans for South Korea.
Two top destinations within 30 minutes of Whitianga are Hot Water Beach and Cathedral Cove.
This photo, which I downloaded from the web, captures the essence of why people visit this beach. There is hot water bubbling up from under the sand that is best enjoyed two hours on either side of low tide. Bathers bring their mini shovels to create their small pools of hot water on the beach as you see in the photo.
I resorted to using someone else's photo as this beach is one busy place with challenging parking. I think my visits to the hot pools were going to be sufficient. BTW - it is a great beach as well.
Cathedral Cove is about fifteen minutes down the road from Hot Water Beach. This is a must see destination if you travel to NZ. You get the entire NZ experience (windy roads in mountains/hiking up and down hills, scenic views and a beautiful beach) in traveling to the Cove, the hiking experience to get to the Cove and a beautiful beach as your reward for your perseverance.
After driving the winding road on the way to the Cove, you discover that you need to park in a carpark that is a ten minute shuttle ride ($14/adult return) to the drop off point to hike about 45 minutes to the Cove. A big sign in the carpark advises that it is a 75 minute walk from the carpark to the Cove. The shuttle saves you the 30 minute hike up a steep hill to where you start the Cove hike. Remember, this is NZ so you just know you'll be hiking up and down some serious hills. The good news is the entire path is sealed with asphalt. There are a series of steps to descend to the beach.
It was a beautiful day so I decided to walk the entire distance - in both directions. I had time and I always need the exercise. I did get kind assistance from a local resident when I made a wrong turn on the initial part of my hike. We had a nice chat as she and her little dog were going in my direction for part of the way. She pointed me in the direction of the Cove Walkway and off she went.
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| Bay from Cove hike starting point |
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| Bay - looking right |
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| Cathedral Cove |
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What's a hike without a sign
Start of hike to Cove |
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| A sign or two? |
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| Hint of the Cove (white stone) |
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| Famous Cove Archway |
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| Archway in totality |
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| Different perspective |
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| Simple natural beauty |
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| I guess I have a fixation on large rocks in the water |
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| The beach |
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| The beach continued |
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| A solitary rock |
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| The water is very chilly! |
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| More beach |
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| Beach with cliff background |
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| Reverse perspective on opening |
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| Yes, people will park everywhere |
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| Cove reverse perspective - up close |
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Trying to show the road's steepness
looking up the hill |
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| Looking downhill |
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It's about ten minutes from the carpark
to get to this sign |
Whitianga to Thames
My new friend Choi suggested I'd enjoy visiting Coromandel (the town) as there were a number of older buildings that had been retained. What Choi omitted from his traveling comments was the last ten kilometres of twisting roads, with hairpin curves, up and down a serious hill approaching Coromandel. Tested my Suzuki on some of the grades up. What a ride!
My real highlight was my experience purchasing my Chicken (organic), cranberry and brie pie from Coro Pies. There were two bakeries in town selling pies. I chose the bakery that had a slightly higher Google Review rating (4.8 vs 4.6) and was a little more out of the way.
I'm delighted to introduce you to Coro Pies - a pie institution in Coromandel. The current owners, Mike and Amy, purchased the business three years ago from the original owners who were selling after 35 years of making pies. Nicky, Mike's first cousin, was the third person in the business. Mike was a Parisian trained pastry chef who was working his magic with NZ pies. The pie I ate had the best crust in all of my NZ pie sampling experience. Light and fluffy through and through.
I met both Amy and Nicky. Mike was away helping to fight a forest fire in the region. Cuz that's what you do when you live in a small community - you do what you can to help out!
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| Front counter |
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| Employee of the Month - Mike |
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| Storefront |
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One of two examples of period buildings
Several towns in NZ have these late 1800's buildings
Reminds me of many Wisconsin towns I've visited
which have similar buildings |
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| Example #2 - Admiral Arms Hotel |
The drive from Coromandel to Thames was another winding road up and down a 'mountain' before reaching the Firth of Thames shoreline. Then the highway snaked along the shoreline, narrowing occasionally to make driving more interesting. Driving challenges aside - was another very scenic section of NZ highway.
Thames to Auckland
In the space of a few hours I was able to travel from Thames to Kawakawa Bay on the east coast, then drive across to Piha Bay on the west coast. Part of the travel plan was to make the complete drive around the Firth of Thames. I was trying to see as many different locations on each side of the country as possible.
This is all I have to show for my overnight stay in Thames. Many empty storefronts in town.
There were vacation homes approaching Thames however these beaches seemed to be more rocky than sandy.
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| Explains the cairn's purpose |
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Goldminer's Centenial Memorial Cairn
1867 - 1967 |
I've been traveling the Pacific Coast Highway for most of my journey from Wellington. I stopped about half way up the Firth of Thames' west coast to take the photos below. The water was crystal clear and a magic shade of blue. The only sign of life on this beach was a guy and his dog plus a pick up truck with an empty boat trailer. Enjoy the magic of the golden sand, blue water, blue skies and light fluffy clouds.
If you look closely in these photos, you'll see the shoreline on the opposite side of the bay. That would be the area I was driving through/along yesterday.
I stopped at the first roadside coffee shop I found in the Bay. As I later discovered, this was the only roadside coffee shop so I'm glad to have stopped. Coffee shop was one of a kind Unique - a combination of a gym with workout equipment, small retail store and coffee shop. Betty and her partner had relocated to the area three years ago from Wellington. They initially had the 'gym' in their garage. As the business grew, they moved to the current location in the photos below, adding in the coffee shop along with other retail items. The location is on the main highway through the community of about 352 permanent residents with the bay and park right across the road.
Betty mentioned the Bay, like many locations in this part of the country, is an ideal retirement location. The weather is more favourable year round.
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| Kawakawa Bay |
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| Kawakawa Bay beach |
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| Kawakawa Bay beach |
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| Kawakawa Bay |
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| Betty Bean Cafe - Retail store |
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| Gym |
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| Home of great coffee & convo |
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Coffee cart, retail store and gym -
all in one! |
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Looking across the highway from coffee shop
to Kawakawa Bay |
Welcome to one of the most famous NZ beaches. Another surfing destination with black sand beaches amidst a beautiful seaside setting that is a 40 minute drive from downtown Auckland.
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| Wednesday afternoon at the beach |
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| Surfers on the go |
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| Remember how hot that sand gets! |
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| Notice how empty the beach is! |
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| Beautiful surroundings |
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| Black sand - up close and personal |
Yes, I'm discovering how to use video in capturing my traveling experiences! One small step for David!
Auckland
I returned to Auckland on Wednesday afternoon (January 15). I returned my rental car one day early as driving around Auckland was unappealing.
Ringatoto Island is home to Auckland's 'youngest' volcano (of the 25 dormant volcanos in the region) - last erupted over 600 years ago. While the summit had great views and the tracks were great for hiking, I'm still debating the value of spending $58 on the ferry ride for this adventure.
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| 25 minute ferry ride from downtown Auckland |
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| Now we know where we are... |
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| Summit view |
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| Summit view |
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| Yet another geographical marker |
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| Summit |
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| Volcano summit |
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| Volcano summit |
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| Last 100 steps to summit |
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| View from summit |
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| Looking to Motutapu Island |
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| Lava field |
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| MacKenzie Bay lighthouse |
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| MacKenzie Bay beach |
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| The contrast of old and new |
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| Downtown Auckland |
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| Summit view |
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| Welcome/Good bye to Rangitoto Island |
SailGP Teaser
I learned about the SailGP racing event scheduled for the upcoming weekend in the harbour as our ferry was approaching the Auckland harbour ferry terminal. Lots of excitement on the ferry as we approached these sailboats in advance of docking. Most of the twelve boats entered in the race are below. I'll leave the task of identifying the countries to you. Canada and USA are very easy to spot!
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| USA! USA! USA! |
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| Go Canada Go! |
Auckland is hosting the 2nd event in the Sail Grand Prix series of races over the weekend. I may have been on NZ TV as a camera crew stopped me to ask me about my interest in the sailing and who I was cheering for.
The winds were somewhat finicky for the four races on Saturday afternoon. I'm thankful for John, who was standing next to me, for having the patience to explain the how the race worked and it's fine points. It seemed to me, at first, that the sailboats were going in all directions.
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| Canada is 2nd from left |
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| USA |
Hopefully, the short video clip below gives you a better sense of the sailing action!
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Background for SailGP event
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| My race vantage point from end of wharf |
Super Yacht 'IJE'
Australian billionaire, James Packer, was in the Auckland Harbour for the race. I was watching the race from the wharf running parallel to his super yacht '
IJE'. The guy standing next to me shared the yacht had 98 crew members along with 35 cleaning staff. The yacht was docked in this location so the crew could watch the SailGP races. The crew has been told to prep the yacht for special guests. The surprise was that the crew were the special guests!
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| View from where I was standing on wharf |
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| View from yacht's stern - it's 108m long |
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| Saturday, January 18, 2025 Race results |
Albany
My travels have taken me to Albany, a community north of Auckland CBD for three nights due to the hotel room crunch in the city due to the SailGP event. An important blessing in my new location was I was on a direct bus line (30 min.) to downtown Auckland. My new temporary home was a four minute walk from the bus station. All part of divorcing myself from the car convenience dependency I was developing. My new neighbourhood had all the conveniences including loads of green space and walks. Seems that there is a waterfall nearby irrespective of where you find yourself!
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| Lucas Creek Waterfall |
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| It's been dry in this area! |
Travel Administration
There are several small items I have packed in my suitcase should the need arise. I have a small sewing kit to do minor/emergency repairs, crazy glue which has been helpful with temporarily fixing eyeglass frames and sneaker soles, ziplock bags for keeping important documents dry, laundry powder for doing hand washing, and a small supply of twist ties to reseal plastic bags. I also have a couple large black garbage bags which are handy to put over my suitcase when it's raining.
Next Week
I spending my last full week in New Zealand in the Parnell area of Auckland. My hotel is close to several bus routes, has interesting places to go hiking (which I need more of after all the driving), and out of the downtown busyness. I've planned one day trip to the Auckland Botanic Gardens. I also need to spend time gathering information and preparing documentation for my business and personal taxes. A pause in the adventure to ensure I have a solid foundation to continue the adventure in the weeks ahead.
May the universe fill your week ahead with endless blessings 🙏 and magical moments 🦄.
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