Waiting for the next tide

It was hard and it took me longer than I'd planned, but I did [eventually] manage to tear myself away from the Coromandel.  What an amazing place.  My prime goal this trip had been to drive the Pacific Coastal Highway from Gisborne to Auckland, in particular, spending time around the East Cape region.  I had planned too to visit a few people either along the route or at least, relatively close by.  What I hadn't factored in was just how magnetic the Coromandel is.  It's certainly made a big impression on me and I'm already starting to think about when I might return for a longer trip.  After all, I haven't even begun to look at the far north Coromandel.....

Anyway, as I said, I did finally manage to tear myself away.  I followed the Pacific Coastal Highway as planned and dropped in to the Miranda Shorebird Centre.  Disappointingly I was told that there wouldn't be much to see as the tide was well out and the birds would return to feed around 2 hours either side of high tide.  Given that was a good few hours away I decided that I wouldn't do it.  I did however stumble on a huge camping/vanning area (Rays Rest Camping Reserve) just up the road - right on the shore line there were dozens of vans and motor homes lined up.  Some were clearly there for the fishing and were whiling their time away until the tide returned, others were there for the bird life and had binoculars trained on the horizon and still others were there simply to relax in the beautiful sun.

I followed the highway around........neat wee communities, some beautiful, rural scenes, a fantastic bay at Maraetai where I stopped for a cup of tea and a rest, on a little to bypass Beachlands and then BOOM...!  It's no longer a cruisey coastal saunter, it's city all the way.  Wide roads, traffic lights, subdivisions as far as the eye can see, fast traffic......


I took a deep breath, checked the GPS navigation was working then dashed up the motorway to Long Bay on the North Shore where I'm staying tonight.  The regional park allows self contained vans to stay in the park overnight for the measly cost of $6.  A bargain!  There are about half a dozen vans, the beach is about 60m away and, if things work out, I should be able to have my breakfast in the quiet of a public park.  Sweet :)