Mother nature and Waihi Beach

Just taking a walk along the beach recently revealed mother nature had been doing what it does best.
Sand has disappeared from the beach by the thousands of cubic metres to the right of the Mako Rd  entrance right along the beach and the sand has a black tinge to it.Local maori said the black in the sand is from Mayor Island - obsidian washed ashore. That is one explanation but I am not sure - seems logical.

The entrances shown all used to be covered with sand and hopefully in time- may be 3 - 6 months it will return but meantime in parts it looks like a big grader has been along the beach and gouged out the sand.

The culprit is the easterly weather - we have had many easterly winds and  that means bad weather/storms and gouging. Our prevailing wind here is from the west and we have not had many of those recently or even in the last 6 months that I can remember.

The entrance we use down at the bottom of Mako Rd hangs by strainers - we used to walk our wheel barrows down the sand to go torpedo fishing. If we wanted to do that today we would need to use another entrance as ours is not safe. Heres hoping mother nature does it's thing and brings the sand back as it normally does in time for summer and many more hours of fishing.

For information on finding Wiahi Beach www.waihibeachlodge.co.nz/maps.html

Waihi Beach & Southern Coromandel

                                                         Image from Mike Hill photography

The agent famil is over and fingers crossed we now have some converts to seeing what a beautiful piece of paradise we have here in Southern Coromandel  including Waihi Beach .

There were initial comments like - "we did not realise how much there was to see and do, we had always sent our clients north, we sent our clients direct to Rotorua" - and more so may be our timing was spot on and our goal of making agents responsible for bringing visitors to the region aware of what's on offer was achieved. However the proof of the pudding will be in the eating - we will watch with interest.

The agents were hosted in 3 quality properties coutresy of www.southerncoromandellodges.co.nz plus most had a Harley experiece courtesy of Bularangi Harley Tours and at the same time saw snippets of Southern Coromandel.

We took in the Martha mine, Waihi Beach and the Karangahake gorge and we arranged presentations to them from both the Hauraki Rail Trail and the Gold Discovery centre in Waihi on progress with the respective activities - more pieces of the jigsaw coming tiogether to make Southern Coromandel a strong offer for prospective visitors.

For more information on activities in and around Waihi Beach www.waihibeachlodge.co.nz/activities.html

Waihi Beach on TV1 news

Unbelievable - yep we have finally broken through and folk now know we exist.

Waihi Beach appears on the lead in page to TV1's weather on Saturday night @ approx 6.25 pm- we are making it now - we have been discovered!

We think its about time Waihi Beach got mentioned. No not Waihi or little Waihi or the Waihi near Maketu - Waihi Beach  - 2 hours south of Auckland - just as we know it.

Obviously the next step is to get TV1 weather to have Waihi Beach permanently put on the lead in smaller towns map in between Whakatane and Whitianga - presently there is nothing so a town of our quality would fit in there just right.

I am sure local photographers like Mike Hill and Bary Jesney can keep them updated with images of our piece of paradise and of course we will set up a temperature gauge and daily report the local weather conditions.

Waihi Beach & The Barrier

Recently there has been talk about replacing/upgrading the library in Waihi - this is how they get by on the Barrier and get by they do. At Waihi Beach we have a very good library and it would be 4 or 5 times the size of the one above and it appears to be very well used.

For more information on things to do at Waihi Beach www.waihibeachlodge.co.nz/activities.html

Agents visiting Waihi Beach and Southern Coromandel

                               The Homunga toWaihi Beach walking track

We have 10 or so inbound tour operators (agents who for the most part act for wholesalers somewhere else in the world) coming to see the Coromandel later this month spending a day in both northern and southern Coromandel.

In southern Coromandel they will be staying at the 3 Southern Coromandel Lodges as well as seeing the sights of Waihi, Waihi Beach and the Karangahake gorge as we update them on our little piece of paradise. We will be promoting the now open  Hauraki Rail Trail, updating them on the Gold Discovery centre in Waihi and launching Maori tourism products exclusive to the Southern Coromandel. Bularangi Harley Tours will being showing agents the options for tours & Harley hire and those that are keen will get the chance to see parts of southern Coromandel from the back of a Harley during their stay.

While they are in our area the agents will be sampling the best  local produce and wines as well as sharing our hospitality. Ali & I are providing a seafood soup for dinner on one of the nights - gave it a trial run last night- can't wait to share it with our guests and fellow famil contributors.

For more information on how to find Waihi Beach www.waihibeachlodge.co.nz/map.html

Greed - not the greatest advertisement for Tourism

I read this morning about the Olympics (less than 1 month to go) in London that there are great deals to be had in accommodation and shows around the city. Amazing state of affairs considering the Olympics is supposed to be a major drawcard and I thought beds would be at a premium. Not so - hotels in London are paying the price for being too greedy and pushing up the price for rooms by as much as 10 times their normal room price - wow! Bookings are down by 35% and prices are being slashed to attract last minute bookings. Prices have been slashed by 30% and West End hit shows by as much as 50%.

During the RWC 2011 in NZ there was a similar stance taken by some hospitality operaters - prices went through the roof for hotel rooms yet in the month before the start of the cup prices started to tumble as many has misread the market and were left with empty beds to fill. I saw packages on cruise ships offering 10 nights accommodation plus tickets to the semis and final drop from $4,999.00 per person to  $999.00 per person - bargains were there to be had. 

Room rates in London on last minute sites have dropped to as low as 59.00 british  pounds and there are a large number of rooms available. The greedy hotelliers deserve what they get - empty rooms. Why would you pay up to 10 times the normal price. I accept there are premiums for world class events but common sense must prevail - you still need to be value for money and we all know what it is like when you feel like you have been ripped off.

In not reading the market and being overly greedy the hoteliers have given the Olympics a poor start before any event has taken place and greed is at the heart of the problem No thought has been given to supporting the event for greater good, no thought to the effects on British tourism and no thought given to the consumer - the fall guy here who has to pay the outrageous room rates.

But it is not a British problem solely - its a global problem and with events spread around the world it happens everywhere. When we were in Paris for the last RWC in 2007 - the All Blacks had been knocked out in the quarter finals we were able to cancel our hotel accommodation for the semi and finals but had to book into the same hotel for the day after the final as we had booked for the final - an amazing difference in price - more than 50% less than we had been previously quoted.

The bottom line is you still need to be value for money - misread the situation and consumers will vote with their wallets and choose to stay elsewhere - there are other places in Europe to see other than London and these become much more attractive when taking into account the costs of visiting London at this time.

If you want a good winter/ spring deal check out  www.waihibeachlodge.co.nz/specials.html with our stay for 3 nights pay for 2 offer.

Waihi Beach Op Shop Ball 2012

The  2012 Op Shop Ball held at the Waihi Beach Community Centre with a medieval theme was a great success. Over 400 folk tuned up in their finest medieval outfits/frocks and a good time was had by all.

The Tim Armstrong band had the crowd on the dance floor most of the night and entertained until the the wee hours.

Costumes were many and varied - many were home made or added to after the original was purchased from an op shop or from costume hire outlets. We had nuns, Fiar Tuck, Lords and Ladies, priests and bishops,knights and princesses, court jesters, serfs and much more.

Thanks should go to Niria Gerbich and her 2012 Op Shop Ball committee for their sterling creative work in putting on such a wonderful event for the community.

For more information on tings to do at Waihi Beach www.waihibeachlodge.co.nz/activities.html