February 24, 2026
We got up at 5:30 AM to get ready for our morning flight to Auckland. We had one small hiccup in finding the place to return the rental car, since it was an after hours return and I did not see in the instructions that this would be in a different place. But we still had plenty of time before our flight.
Going through security took more time than what we were used to. I missed being able to use our TSA precheck. I had to take off my hiking boots, and both of our backpacks ended up getting manually inspected. I think that was due to all of the electronics we had jammed inside. Otherwise the rest of the check in was uneventful, and our flight left on time.
Sitting on the right side of the plane, we had good views of the Akaroa area, central mountains, and the Queen Charlotte Sound.
On the North Island we could see Mount Tongariro and Lake Taupo in the distance. The sun was at a bad angle overhead, making my plane pictures look washed out.
The plane arrived on time, and we collected our luggage and got our new rental car, which was another Hyundai Ioniq hybrid from the same company, Apex Car Rentals. The only difference was the color: silver instead of white.
Then we were on our way and out of the city to the Coromandel district where we would be spending the next four days. Our first stop was the PAC 'n SAVE supermarket in Thames, where we restocked our groceries for the next few days. The trip took a bit longer than expected due to a large detour we had to make. Highway 2 was closed for several hours due to a very bad fatal accident, a head-on between a truck and a car.
Our next stop was the Broken Hills area in the Coromandel district. This area had several trails in the forest through minng tunnels, passing by waterfalls, mine entrances, and other fun features.
We hiked the Water Race Track that followed a mine water race and passed through three tunnels.
The Government Battery waterfall was near the entrance to the track.
Next I took a short hike on the Gem of the Boom track, which had some fun features: a small waterfall, the entrance to a mine, and a "jail."
We drove on to the Hahei Beach Resort. This was a very nice holiday park where we had reserved a garden view studio for two nights.
Just around the corner from our room was a lovely view of Hahei Beach and the little islands in the area.
There was a propane grill a few feet away from the front of our room, and we used it to cook some ribeye steaks for dinner.
After dinner I walked back out to the view of the beach and saw some nice sunset colors.
