I was pleasantly surprised to discover how easy it was to travel within New Zealand, especially as a solo traveler.
Most weekends I would try and find some friends to go exploring with, but if no one were available, I would pack up my backpack and venture off by myself!
One of the most memorable solo adventures was my trip to Coromandel, the little coastal town on the top of the Coromandel Peninsula in the North Island of New Zealand.
Just a short ferry away from Auckland, Coromandel is like Narnia with its luscious green treks, beautiful rock formations and hot water beach. Narnia isn’t an exaggeration of a comparison because it’s also home to the famous hole in the rock at Cathedral Cove as seen in the first scene of The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.
Picture I took at Cathedral Cove
Shot from Prince Caspian
With that being said, Coromandel is the perfect getaway for a weekend trip and easily do-able in 2-3 days.
From Auckland you’ll hop on the 360 Discovery Ferry to Coromandel, which is about a 2.5 hour ride. I booked a tour through Coromandel Adventures and would HIGHLY recommend that because they take you where you need to be and also give you insider information that you probably otherwise wouldn’t know if you were exploring by yourself.
Plus, once you get over there, if you don’t have a car it’s kind of hard to get to all the different places. This is the package I did: Coromandel Adventures
When I got to Coromandel I was greeted by the Coromandel Adventures tour guide who took me into town and I walked to my backpacker to check in.
When I went back to town to start the tour, I found out I was the only one on it! (I went the first week of October) A nice couple from Oklahoma that I had met on the ferry ride over ended up buying a ticket so I didn’t have to be alone and it ended up being so much fun!
Our first stop was the world famous Driving Creek Railway and Potteries, a unique single gauge mountain railway through a replanted native forest up to a superb viewing tower.
The views from this place were AMAZING.
Then we cruised through town and stopped along the way occasionally for some cool little nature hikes. Since we were such a small group, our tour guide was able to make it really personalized, which was so cool!
Day 2
Day 2 knocked my socks off. We drove all the way to the Eastern Coastline to the start of the Cathedral Cove walkway and I began my descent down. It takes about 30-45 minutes to reach the bottom and the whole way down I soaked all the beautiful nature surrounding me.
When I got down there, I practically had the whole beach to myself. The sparkling crystal water and soft sand made for the most peaceful morning. It was absolutely perfect.
I kind of geeked out when I walked through this tunnel and pretended I was Susan Pevensie.
In the afternoon we went to hot water beach. Here (if it’s low tide) you can take a miniature shovel and dig your own hot tub!! As you start digging, hot water fills up your hole and you can sit in it and relax away!
If you can time it right, find someone who’s just leaving and take their hole to save some time digging. This was one of the wildest things I’ve ever seen!
Your driver will get you back into town to the ferry terminal in time for you to return to Auckland.
Since I flew to Auckland, I stayed the night here and took a flight out the next morning. Check out my article about things to do in Auckland if you have some extra time there too!
I hope you enjoy your time in New Zealand, you will no doubt love your trip to Coromandel.
xx Nicole #DoStuff
Check out some more of my articles on New Zealand!
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