Barely Scratching the Surface: Hitchhiking to Whangapoua and Back

Wednesday, December 18, 2013 7:15 pm

I had the day off again today and decided I should try out another beach. There is a beach, Golden Bay, about 1 hour walking from the cafe in the opposite direction of Long Bay which is supposed to be nice and I was planning to go there. There is a bike here I can use but I knew that Phoebe wanted to go to the beach using the bike when she got off so I was gonna leave it for her. Then the idea of hitchhiking came up and they all said if I was gonna hitchhike go to Whangapoua (pronounced Fangapoua) on the other side of the peninsula. I have never hitchhiked in my life and was not super keen on this idea but two of the WWOOFers who are here got to Coromandel Town by hitchhiking so I figured I could give it a shot. Plus, all of the locals who work at the cafe said I'd be just fine. So I figured, you only live once, I really should see this part of NZ if possible, I might as well try it. There's a lot of bad things that could happen but I'm in NZ, probably one of the safest countries in the world, so if I'm gonna try it might as well be here.

So I walked into town - I thought about hitchhiking into town but I was way too nervous! - and then walked outside of town to where the road turns off to Whangapoua and waited. It was about 1-2 minutes before the first car came along, I put out my thumb, and they stopped. It was an older guy, maybe late 50s, by himself, in his work van (not a creepy white van like they have in the states - this one had lots of windows!). I didn't get any creepy vibes form him and since he was on the clock I figured nothing too bad could happen. He was going to Whangapoua which was really convenient so I hopped in. He was really nice, we chatted about traveling and NZ and the Coromandel and it worked out great. He took me right to the end of the beach. Just perfect!

Here's a link to a video I made right when I arrived at the beach.

When I decided to head back I obviously had to hitchhike as well. If I would've tried to walk it would've been miserable - it was a steep, twisty road over a large hill/mountain in the middle of the peninsula. Google maps told me it would take me 4.5 hours but I think it would've ended up in me getting run over so there was no other option. Leaving Whangapoua and trying to get a ride was a bit trickier, however. There weren't very many cars leaving the town and I had about 4-5 card drive by that didn't pick me up. There's a road that leads out of town to the nearest highway, 25, which is the road that goes over the hill/mountain. I started walking down this road and stuck my thumb out hoping for a ride every time a car drove by, which was only occasionally. I was thinking worst comes to worst I will just walk to the highway, which was likely a 30-45 minutes walk, and then I'll for sure get a ride there. About half way, however, a younger guy picked me up. Once again he was by himself but once again I got no creepy vibes, and he had a North American accent, always nice to hear someone from home. He wasn't going to Coromandel Town but he wasn't really going anywhere so he told me he'd take me - very nice. His name was Mike and he's in the Navy for Canada. He came to NZ on business but stayed on after for vacation. We chatted the whole way and it worked out just great.

I'm not sure I'll ever take up hitchhiking in any other country but it seems like a great way to get around NZ on the cheap (free). I'm sure I'll be doing more of this on my days off as I want to get around if possible and don't want to spend all my money on bus tickets and the buses run one occasionally anyways.

So now, about the beaches - I went to Whangapoua and New Chums beach. You have to hike to New Chums - you can't access by car - and it was amazing. Felt like it was straight out of Jurassic Park. Whangapoua was nice but nothing compared to New Chums. I'm not really sure why they sent me to Whangapoua as I didn't think it was all that special. The water was much colder at both of these beaches as they face the Pacific Ocean. I didn't go swimming because it was somewhat cloudy today and not that warm. It's funny here in NZ, the temperature doesn't have to be that warm but once the sun comes out you get super hot - I think it's because there's no Ozone Layer here. Since I couldn't tell how long it would be sunny after I got out of the water I didn't want to be sitting there cold. It only got up to maybe 70* today, air temperature. In the sun, however, it feels much warmer.

Anyways, here are some photos of the beaches.

Whangapoua: