Auckland · Coromandel Peninsula Loop

A 295 km loop from Thames

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Why this ride

Sea, forest and tight Kiwi touring roads. 295 km round from Thames - plan on about 5 h 06 of riding. On the way it passes Coromandel town, Whitianga beach and Kauaeranga valley. It keeps close to the shore for long stretches.

Roadbook

1. Thames fuel start

   Thames is the gateway to the Coromandel, and it behaves like one, a handsome, slightly worn gold town that still has a main street of old verandahs and a stack of heritage stories. In the 1860s the strike of gold in the nearby hills brought thousands of diggers, and for a few years this was one of the largest towns in New Zealand. The mines have gone, but the School of Mines building and the mineral museum are reminders, and the long tidal flats on the Firth of Thames in front of the town are a world-class stopover for migrating shorebirds.

   For a rider, Thames is the point where you decide what you need before the peninsula swallows you. The town has about seven thousand people, so fuel, groceries, repair shops and cafés are all here, and farther north the supply thins. The climb to Coromandel town runs along State Highway 25, which hugs the western shore of the Firth with the sea only a few metres from your wheels, past bays shaded by pohutukawa trees. The road is narrow and winding, with frequent blind corners, tight turns and the occasional logging truck or camper van, so ease through and use the pull-offs to let faster traffic by. In December the pohutukawa burst into red flowers, and the display is genuinely spectacular.

   Inland from the town, the Kauaeranga valley climbs into the Coromandel ranges, where the kauri logging history is on show. Settlers cut the giant kauri trees for ship timbers, and they built huge dams in the valleys to flush logs down in a wall of water, some of which still survive in the forest. Walking tracks lead up from the valley road to old dam sites and views of the whole peninsula.

   The weather is changeable, and the range often catches heavy showers while the town stays dry. Summer is busy, with the roads full of holidaymakers, while March and April offer settled weather and quieter roads. Whatever you do, eat a pie in Thames, and have fish and chips on the foreshore as the tide comes in.

2. Coromandel town food

   Coromandel Town is the real thing: a small, unhurried settlement of around fifteen hundred people on the west side of the peninsula, facing the Hauraki Gulf at the head of a quiet harbour. It is the last proper town before the road goes feral in the north, and it earns its place on the Auckland loop as a lunch stop and a point of arrival, since the road in from Thames is one of the great coastal rides in the country.

   That road, State Highway 25, is the hero. It clings to the shore of the Firth of Thames for nearly fifty kilometres, with big pōhutukawa trees arching overhead and the tide often only a metre below the verge. In December the trees flower scarlet. It is slow, narrow and bendy enough that the average speed is low, so give it time and watch for campervans coming the other way, wide on the hairpins. After the shore the road climbs and drops over the ridge at the Coromandel Range, which has its own tight corners, then rolls down to the town.

   Gold made this town. The 1860s rush brought thousands of prospectors, and the harbour was busy with ships. After the gold gave out, the timber industry, with its kauri forests, and later farming and tourism kept the town going. Some old buildings along the main street retain their wooden verandas, and a small mining museum tells the story. The Driving Creek Railway, built by a potter, climbs through native bush and is one of the more unusual attractions of the area.

   For the rider, the town is simple and easy. There is a petrol station, a bakery, a few cafes and a pub or two, and you can fill up and eat without fuss. Whitianga, on the east side and about twenty kilometres away, is bigger and has more choice for both. The famous smoked mussels and the fresh seafood are the dish to choose here.

   Plan the timing: summer holidays bring crowds, and the roads fill with rental vans and trailers. Autumn is quieter, with warm days and still seas. Winter brings rain and cold, but also solitude, and a rider with decent waterproofs has the peninsula nearly to himself.

3. Whitianga beach swim

   Mercury Bay is the name on the map, and Whitianga is the town that wraps around it, on the eastern side of the Coromandel Peninsula where the Pacific comes in flat and blue and rather unhurried. Captain Cook anchored here in November 1769 to watch the transit of Mercury, which is how the bay got its name, and Māori ancestors had been using the harbour long before that. The beach in front of the town is a long, gentle curve of pale sand with shallow water, the sort of beach where you can leave your jacket and boots on a bag and actually swim without negotiating surf.

   You get here on State Highway 25, which on this peninsula is a road with opinions. From Thames it crawls up the Firth of Thames shore under old pōhutukawa trees, then cuts across the ranges, climbing through bush with tight, damp bends where the surface changes colour with every patch of shade. Gravel on the apexes is a regular feature after rain, and it rains with enthusiasm on the Coromandel.

   Whitianga itself is easy. With a population of a little over three thousand it has fuel in town, cafes along the waterfront, and a small passenger ferry that crosses to Ferry Landing on the Kuaotunu side if you feel like a pointless but charming minute on the water. Coromandel town, about twenty kilometres up the coast, is the next real stop for supplies, and Tairua is a similar hop south. Thames, thirty-odd kilometres back, is the larger town with the bigger supermarkets and mechanics if something needs attention.

   The reason to linger is the coast itself. A short drive from town you get Cathedral Cove and Hot Water Beach, where at low tide people dig their own spa pits in the sand above a geothermal spring, and both are busy in summer and almost empty in winter. Scallops are a local pride, and the fish and chip shops tend to be worth their reputation. Come between late spring and early autumn if you want warm water, but I like the shoulder months, when the light is low and golden over the bay and you can park the bike with nobody to apologise to.

4. Kauaeranga valley stop

   The Kauaeranga Valley runs up from the edge of Thames into the steep, wooded core of the Coromandel Peninsula, and it tells the story of the region more honestly than the postcard beaches on the other coast. Thames, about six and a half kilometres away, was a gold-rush town in 1867, and when the gold gave out the loggers turned to the great kauri forests. The valley is full of reminders. Dams built of kauri logs were used to hold water and release it in a flood to float timber down to the mill, and the remains of one, the Dancing Camp dam, can still be walked to.

   Today the valley is a forest park, with the Department of Conservation visitor centre a short way up the road. The land is rugged, with volcanic ridges, rocky pinnacles and dense bush, and the road runs beside a clear stream through steep walls of green. Beyond the visitor centre the road narrows and the surface gets rougher, ending at trailheads for the Pinnacles, a famous walk to a rocky summit with a hut where trampers stay overnight. The trees are a mix of regenerating kauri, rimu and tree ferns, and the air smells of wet earth and leaf litter.

   For a rider, this is a short, rewarding detour rather than a long road. The valley road is narrow and winding, with single-lane bridges, shaded corners and sometimes gravel. Rain can fall hard here and the stream rises, so check conditions before you commit. State Highway 25, the main road along the Firth of Thames, has lovely views over the water but is busy on summer weekends with holiday traffic and the odd campervan. Early morning is the best time, with mist on the hills and little traffic.

   Practically, Thames, with about seven thousand people, has fuel, supermarkets, bakeries and a long main street of old verandahed buildings, and it is the last sure place for services on this side of the peninsula. Tairua on the east coast, with fifteen hundred or so residents, is the next town. Carry water and a rain jacket, and leave time to stop at the visitor centre to learn a bit more about the forest.

5. Back to Thames fuel finish

   Back at Thames fuel. That is the ride.

Where this sits

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