6th May 2017

Breakfast the following morning was a change from the Chinese café of the previous day, BLT sandwiches and coffee enjoyed in our hotel room.

By 9:30 am, we had checked out and were on our way by taxi to the Britz campervan hire showroom. Once the paperwork was completed, we were surprised not to have to sit through several instructional videos on how to operate the vehicle, likely because we had ticked the boxes indicating prior experience. After a brief inspection of the vehicle with a young woman from Bromsgrove, we were left to begin our adventure.

The day was perfect, clear blue skies, warm (19 degrees), and as we discovered during our taxi ride, the traffic was light. Although we had brought our satnav, the vehicle came equipped with one, so we opted to use it. Our destination was Hahei, on the Coromandel Peninsula.

The western coastal road is a magnificent, twisting serpent, though recent earthquakes have left their mark, and repairs were underway along many sections, making progress slow at times. In one of the more remote stretches, we pulled over to take a break and admire a particularly stunning view, only to discover, to our dismay, that one of the rear wheels was flat.

I attempted to call the emergency number provided, but couldn’t get a response on my UK mobile. We decided to press on slowly until we came across some sign of human habitation, hoping to use a local phone to get assistance.

Before long, we came across a small bungalow. Fortunately, it belonged to a farmer who had just returned for his lunch. After contacting the emergency number, which promised to send assistance, the farmer decided it would be quicker to replace the wheel with our spare one himself. As he went off to gather the necessary tools, we retrieved the spare from beneath the camper van. Although we had a wheel brace, we lacked a jack, so the farmer kindly used his own.

In no time, we were roadworthy again. When we offered to pay him for his trouble, he refused. Just as we were about to set off, we struck up a conversation with a young woman cyclist. It seemed she was craving a bit of company, as she eagerly shared that she was cycling around the whole of New Zealand for charity. She had already completed the South Island and was tackling the final leg to Coromandel on the North Island. A brave and fit young woman, some parts of the peninsula are fiercely steep.

The rest of our journey to Hahei passed without incident, aside from a brief stop for coffee and soda ice cream.

Our goal was to visit Cathedral Cove, and we arrived at the car park late in the afternoon. As we made our way down to the beach, we passed many fellow tourists returning. One middle-aged woman warned us that the climb back would leave us exhausted, and she wasn’t wrong. The walk to the cove took around 35 minutes along a narrow but well-trodden cliff path, framed by lush tree ferns on all sides.

It was worth every step. We seemed to arrive at just the right moment, as the sky took on a soft pink, yellow, and orange glow, signalling the approaching sunset. After plenty of exploring and countless photos, we left the sand and the bizarrely contorted rocks behind, making the tiring climb back to the car park, just as predicted.

Setting the satnav for the nearest campsite, we set off. Half an hour later, we had checked in and were soon heading to a small fish and chip shop in Hahei for our evening meal, snapper and chips with tartar sauce. We enjoyed it back in the van, parked up at the campsite, as the day quietly wound down.