Author: richwest3

April 12, 2013

Our quest, once we got ashore, was to find the waterfall we’d heard about. These things never have very clear directions; so after a couple of false starts we decided to just follow the river. We never did find the waterfall, but we had a nice hike anyway. (You can click to enlarge and scroll through our hike photo gallery above.)

It was a warm afternoon, and when we arrived back at the beach the water looked so inviting. The water temperatures had been falling as we got more into the fall season, but the shallow water of this bay still felt warm enough for a swim. We could have gone back to the boat for swimsuits, but sometimes you have to seize the moment. We had the bay to ourselves; so why not? We had a wonderful swim, all the more special because we knew it would be our last one this season. [I’ll try to dig up a picture and post it here 😉 -Rich]

Later that evening we were enjoying wine in the cockpit when a pod of large dolphins came by, swimming under the boat before heading on across the bay. It was a final magical moment here in Peachgrove Bay. Tonight we’d get a little sleep before waking up around 3am to head to Tauranga, our final destination. –Cyndi

April 12, 2013

We had one more day to spend at Great Mercury Island and decided to head to Peachgrove Bay on the island’s south side. An acquaintance told us not to miss it, and we took him at his word and thus left a lovely spot in search of something even better.

When we pulled into Peachgrove Bay, we could see we’d been given good advice. This bay was stunning. Hills thick with pohutukawa trees backed a postcard-perfect crescent of smooth white sand. The light blue-green water was maybe the clearest I’ve ever seen. If it weren’t for the pohutukawa trees, this could be mistaken for a bay in the tropical South Pacific. This is definitely one of our contenders for the most beautiful bay in New Zealand’s north island. –Cyndi

(As always, click to enlarge and scroll through the gallery.)

April 11, 2013

One thing we were glad to notice was that the warm weather returned. New Zealand is fairly far south; so when the first cold day of the fall season appeared, we wondered: Is it going to be cold from this point on? Do we need to dig out the jeans and sweaters? Apparently not as we were suddenly back in shorts and T shirt weather. We’d make sure to appreciate this while it lasted–the day would come when it would get cold and stay cold. New Zealand is not known for its warm winters.

We headed ashore for a hike, sticking to the trails and small dirt road. Much of this island is devoted to pasture for sheep and cattle, and a lot of areas are fenced off (which is always a good thing when you spot a bull). There’s some forest towards the south end of the island, plus Mohi Mountain with a feature that looks a bit like Yosemite’s Half Dome. We decided to head to the east side of the island, then up towards the north end.

We started by visiting the bay south of ours, White Beach. Wow, it’s aptly named. It’s a beautiful spot with a long stretch of sandy beach. We then headed to the east side and spotted a magnificent grove of very old and large pohutukawa trees. As we kept waking we started to see scattered boulders sticking up amid the grass. Some areas where thick with them, giving it a Middle Earth look. We kept walking until we could see the bay north of ours, a deep inlet called Huruhi. Along we way we saw occasional sheep and cows, plus lots of pukekos and Australian Magpies (which look like big black crows splotched with white paint).

Like some of the Hauraki Gulf islands we’d visited, this place had a very quiet, peaceful feeling. It was warm and dry and probably sees a lot of sunny weather. Like the Bay of Islands, there were bays with turquoise water and white crescent sand beaches shaded by pohutukawa trees. And like other islands in New Zealand, this island had its own unique combination of features. (New Zealand’s definitely not a place where you can see one island and figure you’ve seen them all).

We made our way back to our beach and headed back to the boat, feeling very grateful for this last stretch of calm weather that allowed us to stop here. We both felt already that this was one of our favorite places, and we still had one more bay to visit.–Cyndi (as always, click to enlarge and scroll through the gallery above).

April 11, 2013

After rounding the top of the Coromandel Peninsula, we headed down the other side to Great Mercury Island, which lies about five miles off the east side of the peninsula.

New Zealanders talk about Great Mercury Island with reverence. It’s not the easiest place to get to as it’s 65 miles from Auckland (plus you need to round the Coromandel Peninsula) and 70 miles from Tauranga (with tidal timing issues for entering and exiting). There are no ferries or places to stay, and unless you live in the town of Whitianga on the Coromandel Peninsula, it’s a long trip over there in your own boat. It’s an effort to get to Great Mercury Island, but this remote place is very beautiful and special.

There are several anchorages to chose from, and we started with Parapara Bay. This is one of those places you drop your anchor and think wow, what a sweet place! Rolling golden grass hills, sandstone rock cliffs, and pohutukawa trees surrounded a crescent of white sand beach and turquoise water. We hadn’t even gone ashore yet and this was already one of my favorite places! –Cyndi

A gallery of Parapara Bay. Click to enlarge and scroll.

April 11, 2013

The Coromandel Peninsula forms both a physical and mental barrier for the cruising fleet. The vast majority of the cruising community doesn’t go south of Auckland. In fact the majority of those don’t go south of Whangarei except to Great Barrier Island.

This is usually because of time constraints. Cruisers often leave their boats to visit their home countries, then travel around New Zealand by car. Add in the inevitable and necessary boat work projects and haul outs, and there’s not much time left for cruising. The cruising that does manage to happen usually includes the Bay of Islands, Great Barrier Island, and the big guns of the Hauraki Gulf: Kawau and Waiheke islands.

Few non-Kiwis cruise the Coromandel, and even fewer go around the far side of it to Great Mercury Island or to Tauranga near its base. Why?

1. Because few cruisers consider Tauranga to haul out and do their boat work.

2. Because few cruisers have even heard of Tauranga.

3. Because the towns of Opua and Whangarei give talks in places like Fiji and Tonga and heavily advertise their services to arriving cruisers. As a result, most people end up going to those two places; then word of mouth advertises them, too. They are close, easy to get to, and reasonably close to great cruising areas (especially Opua in the Bay of Islands).

Tauranga, on the other hand, doesn’t do much to advertise themselves to arriving Puddle Jumpers (the yearly fleet of 200 to 300 cruising boats crossing the south pacific) in Tonga and Fiji, maybe having a small booklet or two amid the glossy and plentiful big booklets from Opua and Whangarei. There’s very little in the way of cruising grounds nearby, and pretty much no cruising grounds south of Tauranga (on the north island). Rich and I only knew about Tauranga from our friends Colin and Jeanette, whom we met in Samoa. They build boats in Tauranga and talked it up so much we decided to go.

This is how we came to enter the cruisers’ Romulan Neutral Zone: the far side of the Coromandel Peninsula.

We woke up early and were relived to hear almost no wind noise. If there’s one thing you don’t want to hear before rounding a point or crossing a notorious channel, it’s wind noise. We had sleepy coffee and got Legacy ready to go in the pre-dawn light. Our plan was to round the top of the peninsula and head about 20 miles down the other side to Great Mercury Island, a place our New Zealand friends highly recommended. The total trip would be about 40 or so miles.

The trip went very well. It was calm, sunny, and warmer than the previous day. We were able to stay close to the shore and cut a few miles off our trip, plus get a great view of Port Jackson, a place too remote for any of our possible road trip itineraries. In spite of the calm weather, it felt like an accomplishment to get to the other side. We were now officially off the beaten path (at least for non-Kiwis).

The gallery below consists of pictures from our trip around the top of the Coromandel. Everything about this area seemed massive–the mountains, the foothills, even the rock formations just offshore. (As always, click to enlarge and scroll.) –Cyndi