Pacific Coast Highway
The Pacific Coast Highway on the west side of the Coromandel Peninsula is one of the great coastal scenic highways in New Zealand.
The 31km Thames section of the Pacific Coast Highway takes you from Kopu, up through Thames and along the pohutukawa fringed Thames Coast up to Coromandel township, before heading over to the east coast of the Coromandel Peninsula.
If possible, time your drive on a full tide and stop at the many beaches, domains, fishing rocks or walks that head up the river valleys at Te Puru and Waiomu. For self-contained campers, there are freedom camping areas at a number of spots along the coast.
In the 1350s, The Tainui waka made its journey from the BoP up to Whitianga, around Colville and down into Tīkapa Moana (The Firth of Thames). Here it was guided in the shallow water by the friendly taniwha Ureia, taking the form of a dolphin, and into shelter where it tied up to Te Anaputa o Tainui – a large rock with a whole in it as the travellers sheltered in a nearby cave.
The coastal landscape made it an ideal and sheltered haven for Marutūaha tribes including Ngāti Pāoa, Ngāti Tamaterā and Ngāti Maru and the earlier Ngāti Hauarere.
Pā and kainga (villages) were built in the hills and spurs above the bays. They used what little flat land there was for cultivation, while the sea provided plentiful food.
Captain James’s Cook anchored at Waiomu on the 19 November 1769, and on the 20th November travelled by longboat up the Waihou River for 14 miles in search of timber for masts and spars for the Admiralty. Cook named the river ‘The Thames, as it reminded him of the river Thames in England.
Due to the gold rush of the 1870s there was a desire to extend the road to the north of the Thames. Early miners travelled by sea or foreshore and slowly tracks were developed along the coast. Over the decades the tracks were widened to the extent that horse and cart could travel up the coast.
By the 1920s, motorcars where the main form of transport heading up the road, as visitors were drawn to the spectacular scenery and beaches of the Thames Coast, In 1931 the road was further widened and later in the depression years, gangs of labourers further enhanced the road and built sea walls to protect it from the encroaching sea and in 1936 the road was tar sealed.
Pacific Coast Highway
The Pacific Coast Highway on the west side of the Coromandel Peninsula is one of the great coastal scenic highways in New Zealand.
The 31km Thames section of the Pacific Coast Highway takes you from Kopu, up through Thames and along the pohutukawa fringed Thames Coast up to Coromandel township, before heading over to the east coast of the Coromandel Peninsula.
If possible, time your drive on a full tide and stop at the many beaches, domains, fishing rocks or walks that head up the river valleys at Te Puru and Waiomu. For self-contained campers, there are freedom camping areas at a number of spots along the coast.
In the 1350s, The Tainui waka made its journey from the BoP up to Whitianga, around Colville and down into Tīkapa Moana (The Firth of Thames). Here it was guided in the shallow water by the friendly taniwha Ureia, taking the form of a dolphin, and into shelter where it tied up to Te Anaputa o Tainui – a large rock with a whole in it as the travellers sheltered in a nearby cave.
The coastal landscape made it an ideal and sheltered haven for Marutūaha tribes including Ngāti Pāoa, Ngāti Tamaterā and Ngāti Maru and the earlier Ngāti Hauarere.
Pā and kainga (villages) were built in the hills and spurs above the bays. They used what little flat land there was for cultivation, while the sea provided plentiful food.
Captain James’s Cook anchored at Waiomu on the 19 November 1769, and on the 20th November travelled by longboat up the Waihou River for 14 miles in search of timber for masts and spars for the Admiralty. Cook named the river ‘The Thames, as it reminded him of the river Thames in England.
Due to the gold rush of the 1870s there was a desire to extend the road to the north of the Thames. Early miners travelled by sea or foreshore and slowly tracks were developed along the coast. Over the decades the tracks were widened to the extent that horse and cart could travel up the coast.
By the 1920s, motorcars where the main form of transport heading up the road, as visitors were drawn to the spectacular scenery and beaches of the Thames Coast, In 1931 the road was further widened and later in the depression years, gangs of labourers further enhanced the road and built sea walls to protect it from the encroaching sea and in 1936 the road was tar sealed.
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