Coromandel Explorer

My husband and I did the Coromandel Tour with guides Brad and Gloria just prior to “high season” and had a most amazing time. Both were friendly, thoughtful and accommodating. We had a fun time and challenged ourselves the first day at Wairere Falls (old Māori pack trail), the North Island’s highest waterfall, climbing up to the source stream above, which was amazing! Both guides gave us free rein in our hiking pace but checked in with us often. Our lunches were delicious and healthy, with essential chocolate thrown in, a much appreciated surprise. At the end of the hike, we headed to Hush, a lovely cluster of luxury cabins adjacent to a creek. We met the owner and were lucky to get a view of a large native eel in the creek below. We enjoyed tasty cheese, crackers, etc. before dinner, which was prepared on site in the al fresco kitchen by amazing Charmaine, who would make our delicious meals (including pack lunch) every day and also supplied excellent choice in music!

The cabins were delightful - lots of privacy, a lovely wet room shower and bidet, a plus. Brad wisely juggled our itinerary to accommodate potential rainy weather and we spent our second day hiking the challenging Pinnacles/Kauaeranga Kauri trail. All during our hikes with Brad & Gloria, they identified trees, flowers, birds and other wildlife and were patient with our repeat questions. The ladders to the top of the pinnacles was a highlight for me. At the same time, Brad respected that the ladder part is not for everyone.

Day 3, the Coromandel Coastal Walkway, an old bridle path adjacent to a working farm, was a nice break after the challenge of the first two days. My husband, who loves birding, was able to score some wonderful photos every day of totouiwai, fantail, dotterel, kereru, etc. we walked down to a lovely beach with crashing surf and enjoyed the serenity of just taking it in with all senses.

Later that night we all had dinner at a local restaurant that served excellent fare. The grain salad followed by berry crisp was amazing, as was my husband’s clam chowder and cheesecake dessert. Gloria’s gluten and dairy dietary restrictions were accommodated with her fish dinner and dessert and Brad confirmed that the fish and chips were great.

On our last day, which followed a rainy night that thankfully held off during our hike, we visited a grove enormous Kauri trees and tried to imagine what Aotearoa looked like prior to logging. These trees deserve the utmost respect, whose sacred journey to maturing can span thousands of years. It boggles the mind. We also visited the historic mining area to educate ourselves on the extraction industry’s impact on the area, which included old mining tunnels.

We are so thankful for our guides’ respect for all inhabitants of this island, including human, flora and fauna. We really lucked out with trip and we plan to come again on another adventure. We highly recommend them!

A fantastic experience. Something I will remember and treasure for a lifetime.

Thank you for our terrific walks organised through the Coromandel Peninsula . Bush, beach and mountain; it had it all.

The accomodation was excellent, food amazing and our guide Mike fabulous! Without his gentle and kind encouragement I know I wouldn’t have completed the pinnacles walk. A terrific person as well as guide; a credit to your team!

We booked this trek as part of our holiday to New Zealand and we were not disappointed. Our guide Brad was fantastic and also a really nice guy. The accommodation at coromandel was to a very high standard would recommend paying get extra for en suite. The walks are well paced and include some awesome coastline views. If you want to do some trekking in New Zealand that is not to hard then this is the one to go for. We met some really nice people in our group.

I recently was on the Coromandel Explorer four day hike, our guide was Brad and the walks were awesome. There were only six of us on the tour all together and as we all got along really wel it was such a positive and friendly environment. The boutique accommodation was unbelievable, as was the dinners that were prepared every night, and the lunches that were packed for the day.

We both thoroughly enjoyed the walks, with the tracks, associated scenery, accommodation, food and the walking groups all very good. Even the weather was kind to us! Our sincere appreciation to Brad. With his knowledge and passion we always knew we were in good hands. We are very grateful to your company for making these walks achievable and enabling us to experience your wonderful scenery. Overall, the wonderful experience exceeded all our expectations.