Heaven On Earth At The Coromandel, North Island NZ

I recently took a trip to New Zealand and ended it with a roadtrip to the Coromandel - about 2.5 hours drive from Auckland. We stayed in cooks beach and it has to be one of the most naturally beautiful places I’ve very seen, it had everything. It’s built along a stunning beach but it also has an inland estuary and river that flows inland from the beach. There’s also lots of hikes into the surrounding hills and forests along with winding roads to drive off and explore the interior. The highlight for me was the estuary, it is calm enough to swim and is deep enough to snorkel and see local fish and even a few stingrays. You can also hire a kayak and pedal upstream and explore the various mangrove forests that help support the banks. We also took a hike up the main hill to the west to reach the Shakespeare cliff lookout which offers stunning views of the surrounding area - well worth the walk! The walk is easy and there are signs along the way for the various routes. You can also drive up as there is a small car park at the peak of the mountain ( along with a chemical long drop toilet) There is a small strip of amenities in the town mainly a cafe, pub, grocery store and ice cream parlour. They are very small and get busy so things do run out, we stocked up at a supermarket for essentials before we arrived and that really helped us! It’s an easy drive from Auckland but the roads do get busy on Friday / Sunday nights as people head there for the weekend. #roadtrip #travel #coromandel #newzealand #northisland #hiking #nature #travel #myitinerary #explore #beach