Making my way south, but first to Coromandel
Wednesday, 12 February
In order to make my way south, I headed north (naturally) to a region called Coromandel. This was a very intentional detour as it was a recommendation from James, a school friend who had explored New Zealand with his girlfriend Anna about a year prior to my trip. Now that I had picked up my campervan (first pic), I felt like my trip could really start and after driving about 100km I arrived in a small town called Thames. From that point onwards, I turned North and headed up the West Coast of the Coromandel Peninsula. I was not prepared for how joyous the scenery would be as I twisted up and down the mountain bordering Coromandel Forest Park. Every twenty minutes I pulled up on the side of the road and had to take a picture of the view that stretched over the hills and into the Hauraki coastline (see second pic).
My only minor concern was the campervan itself. Navigating the van down winding roads and along bumpy terrain reminded me of the night bus in the third Harry Potter film. Behind me the kitchen drawers were opening and closing, clothes were falling down and cutlery and plates were rattling. Every now and then I would also be forced up a dirt road and would wince a little when stones and debris from the mountains would flick up against the van’s underbelly. I prayed that the van would stay in one piece and not get me stranded halfway up a mountain.
When it comes to campsites in NZ, you can book them on the day and they will only set you back 30–40 NZD per night. For this you’d get access to a power cable, water hose, kitchen and showers (where the quality of the showers often varied lets say).
My first campsite was Tasman Holiday Park which was incredibly green and idyllic; I mean my camping spot backed onto a stream which was a home to a family of ducks, genuinely. The site was also the perfect base for me to get across to New Chums Beach which I’d had my eye on. I have always been a beach person and could quite happily spend the day getting tanned and sandy. I’ve been to some amazing beaches, the best of them in Sardinia, but this beach (see 4th pic) would really give them a run for their money.
In order to access the beach it was a twenty-five minute trek over rocky terrain and through mangroves which made it all the more worth it when I finally got there. I feel like I’m perpetually chasing the moment in the film ‘The Beach’ which I watched in 2013. In the scene, Leonardo DiCaprio’s character emerges through some palm trees and falls to his knees on this perfect stretch of sand, overlooking this turquoise lagoon and a horizon of tropical limestone cliffs. In the film, the euphoric moment is accompanied by the song ‘Porcelain’ by Moby and I still think about it to this day.
But yes, this beach came close. The sand was hot and white and slightly burned my toes and the blue-green sea was so clear I could see right to the bottom where my burnt toes were cooled off. I nestled myself under the shade of a Nikau palm tree for a couple of hours and soaked it all in. On my way back I climbed an 80m rocky lookout to take the snap in the 4th photo. When I returned to my van I hung my towel out, grabbed a camping chair and made some lunch.
This was when a French man approached me. He was travelling with his family and talking sweetly to his daughter after she had just tripped over a rock in the car park. He seemed very interested in my trip, almost ardently so. I may have been wrong but I think there was a slight longing after seeing me so content (and maybe a little smug) after a long drive and a successful beach trip.
After packing up and jumping into the front seat, I made my journey to my next destination: Rotorua, which was 200km south. This was another big drive but what’s so great about NZ is that every 5km the scenery changes and every 30km you stumble across a little natural wonder. About halfway through the journey I spotted a couple of cars parked up on the side of the road under a sign saying ‘Owharoa Falls’. On a whim, I slammed on the brakes and pulled over to check it out. After a two minute walk down a mud path I came out to this stunning waterfall (see 5th pic) where I jumped in the pool and swam right under the waterfall, trying to soak it all in as the water cascaded down around me. Feeling revitalised, I got back in the van and carried on toward Rotorua.
