Exploring Shakespeare Cliff and Lonely Bay in New Zealand's Coromandel

The Coromandel peninsula on New Zealand's North Island stands out to me as one of the most beautiful places I've ever visited, with its rolling hills, strange rock formations scattered throughout the sea, and lovely, inviting beaches. The weather also tends to be mild, the people friendly, and stunning scenery jumps out at you from around almost every corner. What else could a traveler want?

When Ben and I visited this area for our second trip there together (and Ben's third time to the Coromandel) in 2015, we wanted to just explore all the little sites we had missed our first time around with no particular agenda in mind, other than an early morning hike to Cathedral Cove to avoid the crowds.

When Ben and I stay in the Coromandel, we stay on the Ferry Landing side, across a small inlet from the somewhat touristy town of Whitianga (Wh in Māori is pronounced like an "F"). We have found that all the things we want to do are located on this side of the ferry, and situating yourself here avoids a 45 minute drive back to Whitianga every time you want to visit something over here, but allows for a 2 minute passenger ferry ride and the ability to walk to all the Whitianga sites easily.

The two times we had stayed here (followed by a third time in 2017), we had driven by a place called Shakespeare Cliff Scenic Reserve on our way to the two bed and breakfasts we had stayed at. This time, we decided to see what Shakespeare Cliff was all about, and drove up to the top.

The hike up here does not seem like it would be too challenging - definitely uphill, but not immensely steep, and not very long. The drive seemed like it would be half a mile at the most, and we saw a few people with their bikes at the top. Since we had been out cruising around, and didn't know what awaited us at the top, the drive seemed like it made sense at the time.

Once you park, though, you exit and walk to a horseshoe shaped lookout, complete with sea views all around you (other than behind, of course), with views out towards Cooks Beach and Lonely Bay (below).

Looking straight ahead provides incredibly views of Mercury Bay, including some of the rock uprisings that make this area so unique and memorable.

This area is said to be the outlook point for Captain Cook's observation of the Transit of the planet Mercury (hence the Anglo name of the bay), however, it has been shown that he observed the transit from the beach named after him, Cook's Beach, the longer beach strand seen in the pictures above. For more information about the significance of this from a global perspective, read more about it here.

When you walk a little further, there's a separate outlook that peers down onto Lonely Bay, so-called because of its remote access. There are no parking lots - except the one you may have parked in, had you also driven up here, and you have to hike into this beach from the entrance to this reserve area.

As you can see from the picture below, because of its isolated location, it also doesn't receive a ton of foot traffic, making it an ideal place for a quiet day at the beach.

We decided to take the hike down to the bay, following the somewhat well maintained trail and steep staircase. It takes about 5 minutes to do the hike, so it's certainly not a big time consuming effort. Overall, I would rate the hike as being easy, though those with mobility issues will certainly struggle with the steps.

Once you reach the bottom of the stairs, it's a few more steps to the actual beach.

There at the bottom of the steps is a broad, white sandy beach, complete with aqua colored water lapping along the shore. The scene looks and feels more tropical than one would expect for being so far south of the equator, but it is quintessentially New Zealand.

Over to the left side of the beach is a towering cliff - the same one you stood atop to admire the views of the bay before.

Closer inspection of the cliffs shows the sedimentary rocks have been prone to interesting erosive patterns over time, giving this area of New Zealand it's unique appearance.

Over to the right side of the beach, other large rock uprisings jut out into the sea, creating boundaries of both side of the beach, preventing those from other areas from strolling here easily. These rock uprisings on both sides also help keep the beach from being overrun by beachgoers, making it more "lonely" than some of the other beaches in the area. And though we were there in the off-season, the beach still had a few other visitors, so it's not quite so "lonely" as the name might suggest. But who can blame us all for admiring this lovely spot?

For your viewing pleasure, I've added a few more pictures of this scenic location below.

Next time you find yourself in the Whitianga/Ferry Landing area of the Coromandel, do yourself a favor and take this short but worthwhile hike to this lovely location. We were glad to have stumbled upon it, and will be back next time we're in the neighborhood!

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Shakespeare Cliff and Lonely Bay Details

Shakespeare Cliff and Lonely Bay are about a 25 minute walk away from the Whitianga Ferry, or a very quick drive/hike from Cooks Beach. The road up to the lookout is made of dirt, but is easy to navigate by car, foot or bike.