Miranda Hot Springs to Whitianga

Edit: For some reason, the first map seems to work, but the second doesn't. I can't really explain why, as I did the same thing for both, but to check out what I did that didn't make the second map, just scroll north on the first.

On Wednesday, I got up, packed up my things from the Hot Springs resort where I was staying, and made my way on along the coast of the Firth of Thames. I stopped in Thames for a cup of coffee and some supplies, and then pushed on up the coast. If Tuesday was pretty, Wednesday only got better. The road hugged the coast, with the surf hitting rocky beaches beside or below it. I was worried that Route 25 would be heavy with traffic, as my guidebook warned it might, but it wasn't bad at all. I got to the town of Coromandel, for which the peninsula was named, and found my lodge for the night. I'm going to try the map thing again, though apparently Google let me down last time. If this doesn't work, I'm going to have to figure somethign else out. (It works in preview while I'm writing it; if it doesn't work later, sorry, I guess.)

On Thursday I headed further North up the coast. The Touristy loop goes East from Coromandel, but I went up to Colville, and then on up to Port Jackson, at the Northern tip of the peninsula. The second half of the ride, above Colville, was gravel roads. That was great fun for most of the day, but the long hill at the end nearly did me in, and I was robbed of my fun during the descent down to the Department of Conservation campsites at the point because the road was so washboarded that I couldn't safely go fast at all. Not only that, but it was such a harsh ride that I rattled three bolts off of my bike, setting my rear rack and then front left rack partially connected and swinging. Luckily (by design, most likely) the bolts to the water bottle cages are the same size, so I just cannibalized them and had to stow my water bottles elsewhere until I got back to Coromandel and its hardware store. I stayed the night up at Port Jackson, which had a lovely sand beach facing the Pacific, with only the Great Barrier Island above it. I wish I had brought more food; if I had had enough for an extra day with me, I would have stayed there and lounged around. The route is here (again, if it works).

As it was, the next day I reversed track and headed back to Coromandel. The ride was just as wonderful the other direction, though climbing the big hill was a poor way to start the day. (Are you noticing the trend that I hate big hills? That's not quite true; I hate steep, big hills, but it's a recurring theme on my bike...) Because it's only 65 km or so from Coromandel to Port Jackson, I was back in Coromandel by the early afternoon, but chose to take it easy that day because my knee was a little cranky. (I messed with my pedal cleat position, if you care, and things seem better today.) No map of this day, because it's just Thursday's reversed.

Today, I started by heading east from Coromandel. This had the advantage of being paved, but the disadvantage of starting with 3.5 km of steep hill. I made it, but it was a rude way to get started. I've currently made it down to Whitianga, but am going to push on further. I'll let you know later just how far I make it. So far, if the West coast of the peninsula was all wind-swept rocky beaches, the East seems to be sunny, sandy ones. Both beautiful, just in different ways. I guess I can see why this is the touristy portion, though.