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          HOME AT FIRST's

New Zealand

THE COROMANDEL PENINSULA

          Coromandel's thumb-like peninsula extends north fifty miles from the main body of New Zealand's North Island. It forms a barrier between Auckland (40 miles west) and the open South Pacific. Coromandel's west coast, bordering the Firth of Thames and the Hauraki Gulf, is quiet, placid, and protected, home to a few villages and one town, Coromandel, with a sleepy frontier-cum-art-colony personality. Running north-south down the middle of the peninsula, a mountainous spine remains largely undeveloped and cross by few roads. Coromandel's east coast is wild, convoluted, and starkly beautiful, with numerous white and golden sand beaches. At Kuaotunu on the Pacific coast near Mercury Bay, Captain James Cook first claimed New Zealand for King George III in 1769.                                                                                            ALL PHOTOS © HOME AT FIRST

Coromandel: 40 Miles and a World away from Auckland.

A sunny, peninsular paradise and counter-culture arts and crafts center
 with jungles, mountains, secluded beaches, two coasts, but few towns.
-

    Discovering the Coromandel:

• traditional home of indigenous
     maori.
• HISTORIC WAY STATION for whalers
   needing refit and resupply.
• two coasts separated by steep
   mountains and dense rain forest.
• counter culture refuge: final
   destination of rat race refugees.
• Arts and crafts inspired by environ-
   mental beauty, reflecting a unique
   lifestyle.

A wedding on the beach. The Coromandel
is as much a style as it is a place.
 

 

COROMANDEL TREEHOUSE

Quality Lodgings:
HOME AT FIRST offers top-quality bed and breakfast lodges in quiet locations on both coasts ideal for exploring the Coro-mandel Peninsula.

< NW COAST           SE COAST >

 

PACIFIC VIEW LODGE

Hot Water Beach on the Pacific coast
 

Getting to/from the Coromandel Peninsula:
HOME AT FIRST guests will travel by rental car,
normally coming from Auckland or from Rotorua/Taupo. Expect a 3-5 hour drive from/to these points.

  
Visit Coromandel's
Hot Water Beach at
low tide. Dig your own
hot tub in the sand, fed
by offshore hot springs!

  
Getting around the Coromandel: Use of a rental car is essential here. The roads are narrow, winding, slow, and scenic, and, most often, not heavily trafficked.

Coromandel town is a sleepy
frontier village on the peninsula's
"west coast", and a fine place to shop
for locally produced art and crafts.

Coromandel Hotel and Pub
 

11th tee at The Dunes Golf Resort,
Matarangi, Coromandel. The course
was designed by New Zealand's
greatest golfer, Sir Bob Charles.
 

Activities on the Coromandel Peninsula:
 
• Hunting for arts and crafts.
 
• HIKING in rain forest covered mountains.
 
• walking the Coromandel Coast Walkway.
 
• ocean cruises.
 
• riding a mini-railway.
 
• horseback riding.
 
• swimming & SUNBATHING: miles of secluded
   beaches.
 
• playing golf on any of several local municipal
   or resort courses.

BACK TO THE NORTH ISLAND PROGRAM PAGE

HOME AT FIRST IS A DESIGNATED "KIWI SPECIALIST"
TOUR OPERATOR BY THE NEW ZEALAND TOURISM BOARD.

— HOME AT FIRST —
AFFORDABLE DREAM TRAVEL WITH ALL THE COMFORTS OF HOME.