Hahei-Hot Water Feb 9

Nestled between the Coromandel's two biggest tourist attractions (Cathedral Cove and Hot Water Beach) is a stunning bit of coastline that few apart from locals know about. I had drooled over it on Google Earth as it looked to be one of NZ's great bits of coasts, one I had particular interest in doing a coast traverse of. Islands, sea caves, spires, cliffs, crystal clear water. I got an early start from Auckland on a beautiful morning and put my kayak in the water at Hahei. Conditions were generally good, but there was complex wave interference at the headlands which demanded my attention. As I paddled along I took careful note of how I would traverse the coast in a wetsuit, counting up all the major and minor obstacles.

After rounding the first headland I crossed an open bay and passed between 50 m high spires. I continued along the coast to Te Pupuha Point where there was a very narrow gap between the rocks and a very large island. Rather than go around I waited patiently to time the waves and ride over the rocks on a rising swell without beaching myself on the rocks. Here the coastline got even more spectacular with several large cave entrances. The first one I paddled into had a boulder beach and a fantastic tree tree-lined skylight (frontispiece). I spent quite a bit of time here.

Further on was another impressive sea cave in which the landowner above had gone through considerable trouble to build stairs from the collapse entrance to the sea. Different shades of light permeated from the two entrances.

The weather was sunny and warm and I spent a very enjoyable couple hours cruising along the coast and exploring everything I wanted to. I saw lots of sea life and visited all the more impressive caves.

        The view looking towards Hot Water Beach

After many sights I reached the north end of Hot Water Beach. I had originally planned to end at the hot springs on the south end of the beach but could see from miles away that there were literally hundreds of people crowding the hot springs. I turned around and paddled back for the last point. Despite the wind and the swell I made it back to Hahei in less than an hour. Of particular amusement was a man driving a large tractor to the beach carrying a sofa with two small kids on it. A classic Kiwi beach day or the Coromandel!

In the end I decided it was perfectly reasonable to traverse the coast of foot on a calm day over low tide. There was a good mixture of rock climbing traverses, boulder hopping and the occasional swim and I could tell the coast would be a totally classic traverse. About 30 noteworthy obstacles and chances to take two shortcuts through headlands via sea caves. Wish I had someone I could talk into doing it with me. Maybe someday.