Author Vera Alves
For 24 whole years of my life, I never for a moment considered the idea of spending a night in a tent. Don’t get me wrong: I have nothing against living in harmony with Mother Nature. But my definition of ‘harmony’, in that particular case, had pretty much always involved a considerable amount of distance.
I was born and raised in Lisbon, surrounded by concrete walls and rare little patches of green. I have a reptile phobia, a fear of all animals in general and especial concern about sneaky bugs. However, being in New Zealand, where I’m living and working, there’s no escaping the great outdoors.
So for the long Waitangi weekend, we packed our backpacks and our tents and drove out of Auckland, up to the Coromandel, where pretty much every Aucklander escapes to on weekends. Because it’s close and because it’s absolutely stunning, with breathtaking landscapes and wonderful waterfalls.
The Coromandel peninsula is only about 80 kilometres away from Auckland, but unless you get on the ferry, you have to drive 180 kilometres to get there.
We were really lucky with our campsite, Papa Aroha, which had very good facilities and even its own little beach.
Having baked beans and sausages on bread wasn’t as bad as the city-girl in me believed and sleeping in the tent was actually quite comfortable. Plus, waking up early in the morning and get out of the tent to face a beautiful blue ocean is the best way to start a day.
On our second day, we decided to charter a boat to take us to one of the islands. We picked Elephant Cove and spent the morning there, swimming and sunbathing with no one else around us. Everything was going great until Ella, the 12 year old girl that went with us, yelled “Stingray!!!” and I turned around to see a stingray about a metre away from my legs. It ended up being rather uneventful but, boy, did I yell! lets just say it was good there was no one else on the island…
Photo: Stephen Glauser
Afterwards, we headed to Coromandel township so I could get a cup of strong coffee to recover. The small cafés in the town are one of my favourite things about the Coromande. A bit of urban landscape but still with a small town-feeling to it and the sense that you’re surrounded by mountains and rainforest.
All in all, an excellent weekend in Kiwiland. Coromandel is a paradise for trampers, nature-lovers, beach-lovers or people who are just looking for a place to rest and get away from the stress.
