Cliffhanger road - gorgeous hike

Day 4 – Friday, November 4^th  

Rained again this evening, a mix of clouds and sun to start our day.  An adventurous drive up to the top of the Coramandel peninsula.    Basically this was a 1.5 lane gravel road that hugged a precipitous cliff in a number of places, and then there was a spot in a very steep section where there was a road grader and a roller compactor working, that we had no choice but to crawl behind for a few km.  So a nailbiter in spots but fantastic.  Most campervan rentals would not allow you to drive up here, as they are too wide, and/or they do not allow you to drive on unsealed (nonpaved) roads.  Our rental company allows you to drive anywhere except on the beaches.  Along the way there were a few DOC campsites including Port Jackson where we eventually camped that night.  At the end of the road there is a 6-hour round trip hike along the coast from Fletcher Bay to Stony Bay.  Well, it just keeps getting better, as this was a fantastic hike.  We ended up doing 4 hours roundtrip to a lookout, and saved the last piece for our next visit.  Two Brits, (also just retired, also married 30 years) started out about ten minutes in front of us, although they had friends that were going to drive all the way around to Stony Bay to pick them up at the end of the hike ( a several hour drive I would guess – kind of like places in CO, close in distance, very long driving).  We really enjoyed this hike – it will be hard to top this one.  We drove back down a few miles to the Port Jackson campsite, picked out our spot, only a few other campers, so it felt like we had the place to ourselves again.  We took a wonderful evening walk along the beach, and watched the sunset.  Heavenly.  This is a spot we would come back to and linger for a few days if we are ever fortunate enough to return.  As has been the pattern it rained again this evening for a bit.  We are sleeping like logs – I haven’t slept this good in years.

Here are the pics from our drive, our hike and our campsite.