Our first days on the Coromandel Peninsula blew our minds in many ways. Not only because of the fact that our home was a car and we would wake up with the sunrise because of the light and the heat that came with it or having various itchy mosquito bites (Anna was of course the lucky person that didn’t get many of them, as I have always been and will probably always be the number one living mosquito magnet) but also because of the stunning views and the lovely weather.

According to statistics, we chose the right place to start our travel, as the Coromandel Peninsula statistically gets even better weather than the rest of the North Island. And the statistics did not let us down. On most days there was not a single cloud in the sky and the sun was shining bright.

Our first stop was the world famous Cathedral Cove. As a movie lover I was quite excited to go through the hole in the wall as you can see it in the Narnia movies. Even though there were quite a few other people around, you could still find some nice places where there was no one around.

To go back to our car we needed to climb the hill we went down to the cove. On the way there was not only a nice forest around but you also had wonderful lookouts on the seaside.

After arriving at the car, our next stop was the Hot Water Beach.

A thermal water source is floating hot water under the surface into the sea. The trick is to dig a hole in the sand to catch a spot where there is a balance between the over 60 degrees hot water from the thermal source and the fresh sea water. Digging a hole of a bathtub size allows you to have a nice bath under the blue sky with a great view to the sea.

The best time frame is two hours before the tide comes in or leaves. But you need to be aware that in the summer time you will have very close neighbours. Whitianga is very touristic and in summer the amount of people staying in that area gets multiplied by 4. With normally having some hundred people around, in summertime there are thousands in that area with its stunning beaches and the famous spots to visit.

Anna and me drove further on to Papamoa Beach. With our lovely fellas Brunhilde and Sharon we arrived at the campsite that is just some hundred meters away from the beach. If you now ask yourself where these weird named people come from I can calm you down: no we did not pick random people up from the street and took them with us. We simply named our car and navigation system, as we would spend tons of time with them during the next weeks.

From Papamoa Beach we went to Mount Maunganui which I have already visited before but it was definitely worth to go up there a second time.

The 40 mins walk uphill is not the nicest thing you can think of, especially when it is super hot but it is definitely worth it once you arrive at the top.

Enjoying some time in the nice city center with its local surf shops and cafés, we could relax after our active day and watch the harbour-side for a while before going back to our campground.