Sun, surf and sand without the crowds

By PATRICK GOWER

Thirty people were on Pokohino beach yesterday. Just down the road at Whangamata there were 8000.

Pokohino is 20 minutes drive up the coast from the popular Coromandel holiday town, but despite the same kind of sand, surf and brilliant weather, the two beaches could not be more different.

The Herald heard about Pokohino at the pub. The beach is too insignificant to be detailed on maps but getting there is easy - turn left at the top of the hill on the way to Onemana and follow a gravel road through the Tairua forest until you reach a carpark.

Because of the surrounding forestry, no one can live anywhere near the place.

If you are not out by 7 pm, you will find the gates at the top of the road locked.

From the carpark, a steep track winds down to the beach. The thick bush is unforgiving when trying to sneak a peek at the beach, and it is not until you reach it that you get your first glimpse of the sea.

One regular reckoned that Pokohino was no great secret.

But the extra yards to go to get there kept most of the "lazy" holidaymakers away.

One group of teenagers from the Hibiscus Coast made the effort, and brought with them plenty of energy for games of frisbee and jumping off the rocky edges to the small bay.

They said it was good to get away from the crowds after a heady New Year celebration.

The tiny bay has a safe, sandy-bottomed surf beach. A tiny tidal lagoon provides a playground.

A couple of rock fisherman were throwing their surfcasters into the next bay after scrambling over the same outcrop the Hibiscus Coast boys were launching themselves off.

Daniel Cavey, aged 13, came from Pirongia with his mum for the day. He spent some of the time in a rocky lagoon at the end of a tunnel thorough the rocks.

Everyone else was lying on the beach, sometimes under the shade of a pohutakawa.

We were told to take our lunch, "because once you get there, you won't want to leave".

That was a lie. The reason most people don't want to leave the beach is that no one wants to punish themselves by clawing their way back up the track.

One departing woman said: "I guess it will back to Whangamata for a swim to cool down."