WAIKATO: COROMANDEL EAST

We arrived at the Hahei Holiday Resort late in the afternoon, checked in and found a quiet powered site tucked away behind the reception area.

Our immediate impression was of the size of the park - they can handle over 1,200 guests and were nearly full over the Easter holiday weekend. We normally avoid mega-parks, but we were quite impressed with how it was laid out, with large trees and shrubs creating enclosed areas. And the bathroom, kitchen and laundry facilities were some of the best we've seen. The 5 minute showers worked really well and were included in the tariff.

It rained quite heavily overnight, and was cloudy for most of the morning. We went for a short walk up to the Hahei shopping centre for a very nice lunch. The other shops, including the dairy, were quite expensive, so we decided to wait until we got to Whitianga before stocking up on provisions.

The sun was back out again after lunch and we walked down to the car park where there is public access to the beach. There is no freedom camping allowed, most likely because it would take business away from the holiday park.

Hahei beach is spectacular! White sand with sparkling clear water. Very popular with both Kiwi and overseas visitors - we picked up on a lot of foreign accents while we walked along the full length of the beach.

Even if you don't decide to stay at the holiday park, this is a great location to spend an afternoon. The public toilets are clean, and there is a park with a BBQ area provided. If you're lucky, you might be able to claim a shady spot under the large Pohutukawa trees along the beach.

As you can see from the pictures, there was a lot of activity along the beach - people swimming, sunbathing, canoing, fishing, and even a few people collecting tua tuas - a small shellfish that is good eating if only you can collect enough of them.

Walking back up to the holiday park from the beach we came across a blue heron in the sand dunes. He didn't seem at all concerned at our approach, but eventually flew away as we got a bit too close.

The next morning we got up early to watch the sunrise. What a great way to start the day! Even better to be in the launch going fishing for breakfast...

We checked out just before midday and we made use of their dump station to lighten our load. Normally, I don't mention dump station facilities - they are all pretty much the same - purely functional, and only there to do the stuff you have to do. But this dump station was in a class of its own - unusually well designed to be convenient to use, quirky use of a toilet bowl for emptying the toilet cassette into, and they even provided a vacuum hose for cleaning inside the van! 

We drove out feeling that we'd had a most enjoyable stay.