Bike around Coromandel - Britz

Four nights in a loop from Auckland in a campervan, built around the Hauraki Rail Trail, with Waitomo and Hobbiton on the way.

Waitomo comes first, where the glow worms on the roof of the main grotto read as a night sky, then Hobbiton at Matamata, the film set preserved on a working sheep farm.

Paeroa is where the cycling starts. The Hauraki Rail Trail runs on an old railway formation, which means it is flat, and the best section goes through the Karangahake Gorge, over bridges above the river and through a lit rail tunnel most of a kilometre long, with the Waikino station cafe at one end of it. Waihi follows, a gold town with an open pit in the middle of it, then the Matatoki cheese barn near Thames before the return to Auckland.

Britz supply the camper and the day-by-day plan, and the hire is priced live per vehicle rather than per person; campsites, fuel, ferries, park fees and activities are all extra, with a nil-excess insurance pack available at booking. Five days for a loop this short leaves most of the time for the bikes, and the rail trail is gentle enough for a family: no gradient to speak of and surfaced throughout. Bike hire is available at Paeroa and Waihi, and some campervans can carry bikes, which is worth confirming at booking. Waitomo and Hobbiton both need tour bookings in summer. The gorge section of the trail is the one to ride if only one is possible, since the tunnel and the river bridges are the best of it.