Hahei, Waikato, New ZealandCooks Beach
Several stops in Tairua
We are spending nearly a week on
the Coromandel Peninsula at two more places, today we are heading north and as
we don’t have time to check out all beaches and every cool place we are
stopping in only in a view: Tairua is a little town on a peninsula. Already as
we drive into town, we see that it is really cool with the views on the bays. First
stop to have a look at the nice beach and its nice views: because on one side
is Taurua and on the other side is Pauanui on the different sides of the ocean.
We then drive to the end and as high up as we can on Mount Paku: the only thing
is you can’t park up there and if you want to go to the top, it is a steep walk
up – as we have more on our list, we enjoyed the views we had there –no
question, the people living here really have a spectacular view.
As we slowly drive back down we
are stopping at the end of a road and are really blown by the amazing views as
well the clean water –soon after we stop again to put our feet in the nice
water… what a pretty town!! But then we have to say it is hard to say which is
the prettiest town and which is the nicest beach.
More windy roads north
We continue on, and again through
lots of windy curvy roads, but we did stop at one point where we had an amazing
view down onto the ocean and its bays. Here we met a couple from England
travelling in a Mustang which they got from friends to explore the area.
our next stop was Hahei –Gine read
about the parking lot outside of town, which was nearly empty and so we drove
into town, there we checked out regarding Cathedral Cove and learned that the
walkway is closed because of all the damage from cyclone, the only way is by
boat – but we were not so convinced if it is worth to pay 125 $ per person for
a one hour tour – and then decided to head down to the beach, from here we had
some beautiful views on the islands and decided it is perfect for a break on
the beach: Gine went for a walk and Paul to relax… and we discovered you can
take a water taxi to Cathedral Cove (it is 5 Min there and back and you would
pay 80 $ - I think that is a rip off!!!). Guess we are not going there. Only
because it is THE tourist attraction – I think we can see enough beautiful
beaches without seeing that specific one.
One thing super cool here is, that
the water taxi boat actually has wheels, the boat drives backwards out of the
water, once safe in the sand, the wheels go down and they skip the boat a bit
and you can easily go in and out and same the boat drives right into the ocean
– super cool to see.
As we walk along the beach we can
see some huge trees growing vertical out of the rocks – wow, I can’t believe
they are not falling down – again so amazing.
Cyclone Gabrielle:
- We heard before about the rainy summer last year, but we now also learned about the storms especially Cyclone Gabrielle which did a lot of damage like interrupting the Road from Cooks Beach, it was closed until it reopened right before Christmas
- It hit in Feb 2023 and devastated parts of the North Island, it was the costliest cyclone on record in the southern Hemisphere and also the deadliest since Giselle who hit in 1968
- It hit on Feb 9 Auckland and the Coromandel Peninsula became a state of emergency due to previous floodings, several roads were closed including the Auckland Harbour bridge, around 10.000 people were evacuated. On Feb 19 still 3200 people were uncontactable
- Gabrielle was also the one who closed SH1 (and it was still closed a year later when we wanted to drive it), she also damaged the walk to Cathedral Cove and it is now only accessible by boat
- For the Coromandel Peninsula it was the 5th major storm in one summer season
Our place in Cooks beach
Our Airbnb is in Cooks Beach (as
Gine couldn’t find a nice place in Hahei – and this decision was perfect). It
is funny to drive there, as this little community has no straight roads and the
place where we are is like driving into a circle until we finally arrive in the
center–there is our cute little house on a “lake” with a nice patio – so
pretty, we will have a wonderful two days here. Relaxing with a cup of coffee
outside and then we meet Jo and Steve, both super nice.
Shakespear Cliff lookout¸
- In 1769 Captain James Cook sailed into Mercury Bay: he named it this because he observed the crossing of the planet Mercury in front of the sun: this happened on Nov 9th and made it possible to calculate the exact location (the measument was done at the cooks Beach Dunes) – there is a memorial plague up here to remember it
- More interesting Kupe left Ra’iatea – they followed the flight path of the shining cuckoo and relied on his knowledge of wind, waves, clouds, birds, drifting sea weed, the setting of the sun, the stars and the lapa-lapa (phosphorescence): it took him 1 month to do the 2960 km when he landed here in Whitianga: when he landed and saw Moehau Mountain he said “E Kupe, he aotea, kua u tatou” (O kupe, yonder is a cloud, we have landed) – which gave New Zealand the Maori Name Aotearoa – what amazing navigators
- Capt Cook also gave the cliffs this name – likely because they reminded him of the cliffs in Dover/Britain
Time to head out again and check
out a bit more, we are driving over to the Shakespear Cliff lookout and from up
here we have amazing views down onto a cute little beach (we will go there
tomorrow),down on Cooks Beach, out to more islands in the ocean and over to
Whitianga & Mercury Bay– wow!!! What a beautiful place. And again, lots of
Crickets – it would be so cool if we could actually see one.
A swim at Cooks Beach
From here we headed to Cooks Beach
and Gine loves it, because it has some waves but there is no wave-jumping you
can go in and swim!!!! Big surprise, the water is also not that cold (still a
bit on the cooler side but not like before) and with the fresh breeze you don’t
even feel the heat here. Again, we get told on how lucky we are with the
weather.
It is a good thing that we brought
our supper for today and tomorrow as there is only a tiny store here, but we
are well prepared and decided tomorrow we will have a nice day exploring a bit
the area around here.
Good morning sunshine – that
means it is car wash time
We woke up again to some blue sky:
it was so nice that after breakfast outside on our patio Gine had to go for a
walk around the pond (I wouldn’t really call it a lake) and Paul decided that
he would like to have a clean car and got everything he needed and was happy to
wash the car. We also talked with Steve and learned about the stars and how you
can see the latitude with the stars here (yes that is how Captain James Cook
did it). Very interesting. I guess tonight we should go out when it is dark and
look for the Cross of the south.
Ferry landing & Flaxmill
bay
We headed to the end of the road
where the ferry landing is, from here a passenger ferry goes over to the other
town – really super cute, but we decided not to go over as we thought it was a
bit pricy and it won’t look much different then here (except you could go in a
supermarket). On the way back we stopped at the Flaxmill Bay and yes wherever
we stop the views are so amazing.
A cricket at Lonely Bay
- The Maori call it Te Rakatai – and later someone no-one knows who called it the Lonely Bay
- Here Captain Cook brought his ship onshore to clean it!!
- By the way, Cook was also invited to the Pa and had the first official European welcome in NZ – and he gave the Maori’s the first potato
Next stop Lonely bay, as we go out
of the car we can hear the crickets super-super loud, we really would like to
see one, so we start looking into the trees and then suddenly we spot one – I’m
not sure if that one made all the noises or not – but still it was super cool
to see.
Heading down to the beach and as we
came to the bottom we are truly amazed on how beautiful this beach is – on one
side there were those huge rocks and you can see how the ocean washed them out
from underneath – it is really a little paradise. And at some spots you have
all those broken up shells and you walk on them – very pretty when the sun
sparkles on them.
Cooks Memorial at Cooks Beach
Next we headed to the other end of
Cooks Beach, here is a monument to Captain James Cook as here in Nov 1769 he
and Charles Green (the astronomer) observed the transit of Mercury (that means
they saw the planet mercury going across the face of the sun) and used this to
determine the longitude of the bay. Here they also had a map which cook
originally made and it is actually fairly accurate – how amazing and how much
knowledge did they have.
Hot water at hot water beach
We had early coffee and then
headed to the hot water beach, as you can only appreciate it within 2 hours
before and after the low tide. Ok the first thing we discovered, there are a
lot of cars, the parking lot is full and you have to pay!!!! We are not
impressed. We walk with everyone else to where everyone is gathering and wonder
if the fuss is really worth it. I do have to say once we were and discovered
the hot water and that you literally only dig into the sand and it fills with
hot water we were amazed you can clearly see where the hot spot is and where it
is super hot (even if there is not water – the sand is hot – totally weird) and
then when you walk the sand gets cooler again, as well the hot water slowly
goes towards the ocean – weird & cool. Even we were not into digging such a
deep hole that we could sit in – as the hole constantly collapsed (and we
didn’t want to pay for extra parking either) – as well you can’t swim in the
ocean here – so no getting rid of water and salt. After we satisfied our
curiosity and had enough fun we decided to head to our nice little nearly
private beach where we don’t have to fight for a spot.
Where does the hot water
come from????
- The water comes from underground hot springs that filter through the sand, it is one of the most popular geothermal attractions in the area (yes we discovered that, we are two of the 700.000 people coming every year)
- The water comes with a temp of 64 C from two underground fissures close to each other (yes that is where the two hotspots of people are)
- As you are tempted to go in the hot spring and then into the ocean – it’s not a good idea as here are a lot of rip currents –many people died here before
A swim at Cooks Beach
Back where we were before at Cooks
Beach: we have white sand, nice relaxing waves (good for swimming), fairly warm
water and no people (oh and plenty of free and close parking)– now that is
perfect…. Ok today there were four other people with us here and one was from
Vancouver. It is so pretty and so relaxing, if you need a shade, there is even
a tree close by – or toilets by the way – we feel like we are at our own little
private spot. We really like it here.
2025-05-23