Praise for the Cathedral. Coromandel, Purangi Winery, Free Camp.
It seemed rude to leave Coromandel without spending a day looking around. Luckily a host had become available and I made contact and was offered a tent spot for the night. Bonus. Next stop the waterfall. There is a back woods road called The 309 that has a waterfall with a decent size natural swimming hole.
That was my day sorted, lazing, sun bathing, swimming and eating.
My hosts were Wally and Sue. A retired couple who had done quite a few tours in Europe including some in the UK. They host not only Warmshowers but also students on environmental work exchanges. Wally is an Oracle of touring knowledge and we spent time after dinner refining my route.
Wally had warned me of the hills to come after I left Coromandel and his sly laugh and comments were well placed. Their house is basically at the foot of a monster climb. No warm up option just straight into it. As always though the views from the top make it worth the effort.
There was a ferry ride across a 100 yard harbour that saved a 35 miles detour around the bay but the next helping shorter route was not possible. Wally had advised to take a road that would cut out about 4km and a huge hill. Unfortunately there had been a rockslide 2 days earlier and the shorter route was completely blocked off. I did the hill and made it to my camp. A winery with a grassed area for tents that has a deal where if you spend $20 you can shower and camp. One wood fired meat pizza and half a cider later and this weary rider was showered and tucked up.
The route to my 3rd camp was quite uneventful apart from the stop off at the beautiful Cathedral Cove. It was an hour round trip walk through the cliff side forest and down to beach were the huge archway greats you and the eroded remains of the cliff still stand alone in the seas edge. I made camp in Tairua at one if the very basic free sites, nothing more than a grass clearing and a “dunny” as a local guy had said. I have two host confirmations to get to for the weekend and beginning of next week in stunning locations where I can go exploring some more.
