The rain ended before midnight, and the wind rose some wat as it swung to blow from the West. The morning was still cloudy, except that there were now blue patches of sky. Today we wanted to camp near the Hot Water Beach for low tide in the morning. We crossed the Coromondel peninsular on the sealed roads of State Highway 25, stopping at a viewing point at the highest point of the road. It looked nice and clear on the East side where we were going.

Our first stop was at Whangapoua where there was a gorgeous large beach. Rosemary searched for shells while I went for a walk to the far end and climbed across the rocks.

We then continued along the road retracing out tracks a little way and drove to Opito Bay. This meant some more gravel road driving which I enjoy. Opito Bay is the end of the road, has a huge bay and lots of holiday homes of reasonable size and quality. I went for a swim and enjoyed the warm water and did a little bit of body surfing. Lunch was eaten here. The black billed gulls, which are everywhere, were particularly docile here. They were sitting on the road in large groups, bringing me to a total stop.

We returned to the SH25 and headed to Whitianga to buy some food and to look at potential campsites. It is infuriating that New Zealanders do not want to show prices for their campsites, so you must start a booking process to see what the price is. The sites in the area were reaching $50 for the night, pretty exorbitant. Freedom camping seems to be frowned on here, with three spaces allocated, and already occupied in the early afternoon.

We did find a site eventually that was $40. It was on the other side of the estuary at Flaxmill Cove. It turned out to be a very nice place with large plots, a beautifully clean, modern kitchen & hotel-like bathrooms. It is also only 10 minutes drive from the Hot Water Beach which we aim to visit tomorrow.