Whitianga to Hahei

After the 309 experience of yesterday we thought to do another 30 or 40 km along the coast but when we got to Hahei we decided to stay on the beach for the rest of the day. Ever since we got to the Coromandel Peninsula we find it hard not to stay longer at the places we cycle through. In Coromandel we would have loved to go all the way to Port Charles but it would have been another two weeks of cycling.

Being on the road on a bicycle really is the way we are visiting a country but sometimes we just feel we miss out if we don´t take the time to stop. The more places we stop, the more difficult it becomes to get to our final destination. Today we decided it was time to relax and spend time on Hahei Beach.

In Whitianga we took the passenger ferry to cross the bay, an adventure in itself as the bikes and trolleys hardly fit in the ferry. After a very short climb we entered a new world. From the lush mountains inland we now found ourselves cycling along some astonishing beaches. A perfect blue sky, the heat of the sun had released that sweet barky scent from the pine forest we drove through, the ocean breeze filled our lungs with perfumed air and the mangroves gave off a strong seashore aroma...absolutely divine!

It is a relaxing and easy drive to Hahei. There are hardly any cars and as we cycled our way out of the bay, the road makes its way through pine forest and rolling green fields; in the distance the bay with its mangroves that turn into wetland before grassland becomes the playground of hundreds of scruffy looking cows. I say scruffy but these might actually be naturally skinny cows. In Europe we are used to see these big mamas with big hooters and thighs like tractors, and are probably fed pure muscle protein through a blender. A hawk seemed to be following us for kilometers and all of a sudden, a few 100 metres in front of us, we saw what looked like a possum or rabbit struggling to cross the road, intermittently getting up to advance half a meter and then fall down again. We first thought it was a rabbit that got hit by a car but it turned out to be a stoat dragging a rabbit he probably just caught and he had a real hard time trying to get it to his kitchen. Unusual to see this sort of thing during the day but I guess the stoat must have had a lucky day.

The beaches on the way to Hahei are of pure white sand and the ocean water is so clear, it has this milky greenblue colour that makes you feel you´re in paradise and you are the first one to discover the place.

We took the afternoon off and spent the rest of the day on the beach. Pohutukawas cling on to some extraordinary looking cliffs and it looked like the perfect spot to have lunch. So it was, with a view over the islands that are at the horizon of this gorgeous bay, but Ella decided to put her sandy feet into our plate. Thus endeth our lovely beach lunch.

From Hahei there is a nice walk to Cathedral Cove, a beach we unfortunately could not go as we heard it is an amazing place.

An unforgettable sunset made us feel very very happy to be there.