The Coromandel Peninsula
This morning I left Matamata to ride the Coromandel Loop. I wanted to do the entire loop in a day but it was a bit tricky to do all of it and still get to an interesting place to stay the night without doing a ton of kms. Also, it was going to be the Easter weekend soon, which meant that finding a place to stay would be a big hassle, if not impossible. I ended up finding a place in Whitianga for that night, and the next day I would ride all the way to Auckland, where spending a night would not be difficult because everyone would get out of the city for the long weekend.
![P1010889](http://www.adventuresinfinite.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/P1010889.jpg)
Leaving Matamata
The ride to Whitianga was gorgeous and it wasn’t difficult to see why this was the go-to ride for Auckland motorcyclists. It’s fun, twisty, gorgeous with fantastic views of the Pacific Ocean, and the entire loop is do-able as a day ride.
![P1010895](http://www.adventuresinfinite.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/P1010895.jpg)
Stunning ride all the way.
This time I was determined to do more things than just ride so I marked a couple of hikes to do on the way. The first hike – if you can call it that – was going up to Mount Paku to see a 360 degree view of the surrounding bay. I rode pretty high up, parked in a parking lot, and walked the remaining 15 minutes to the viewpoint. It was a bit steep going up but nothing too bad.
![P1010908](http://www.adventuresinfinite.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/P1010908.jpg)
Mount Paku summit.
My second hike was to see Cathedral Cove, a natural rock formation in the form of an arch right on the ocean. The hike was 45 minutes one way and had some gorgeous scenery. I’m so glad I did it!
![P1010949](http://www.adventuresinfinite.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/P1010949.jpg)
When the beginning of the hike looks like this, it looks promising. :)
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Cathedral Cove