Our destination this time; Coromandel town. The drive between Auckland and Thames wasn’t at all interesting to be honest, mostly factories, warehouses and motorway as scenery. However, as soon as we left Thames towards Coromandel town we were witness to one, if not the, best drives I have ever been on. The coastal road was equally jaw dropping as it was frighteningly scary, some of the corners were ridiculous and Jen was quite happy she wasn‘t driving.
On arrival in Coromandel Town we were shocked at just how quiet it was, but then what do you expect from a town with a population of under 2,000?! Anyhow the whole place has such a relaxed feel to it and yet again some amazing backdrops. Our once again late arrival just gave us chance to get our bearings and check out what we were going to do, though we had already decided that we could use our time in Coromandel to do a bit of walking.
The next day and our first full day we rose nice and early and decided to ride the 4km track from our hostel to the Driving Creek Railway. If you’re in Coromandel for a day or more I highly suggest checking this out, it costs $20 (£8.75) each and all money gets put back into the conservation of the site, which is now a heritage site. To describe everything would take me too long, but I will say it really shows what one man (with help) can achieve. Also the railway takes you to the aptly name Eyefull tower, which has great panoramas of the Coromandel peninsular.
Just down the road is a small café, called the Driving Creek Café. It’s a little organic vegetarian/vegan place and they do some phenomenal cakes, oh and the mint hot chocolate is worth your hard earned cash.
Our afternoon was spent doing some of the local walks, first of all we headed to the Kauri Block Pa Track, (anyone heading to NZ can get a local walk map from the I - Site for $1) this track was about a 30-40 minute walk from our hostel.
Once there the walk itself takes approximately 40 minutes and takes you through some of the new Kauri plantations and up to the Pa point, which again offers some great panoramas of the surrounding areas. Would you believe it, once we reached the top the camera battery ran out… great timing. I did however manage to get a picture halfway up, unfortunately it wasn’t the greatest. The walk itself was reasonably easy, though definitely easier from the Harbour View road side. Next up and I apologise for boring whoever is reading, was the Taumatawahine Reserve walk, try saying that after a few beers, scrap that try saying that before a few beers. It took about another 30 minutes to get to from the Kauri Block track, though the walk itself only took 15 minutes and doesn’t really have anything of great interest to offer; well nothing that can’t be found on any other bush walk.
Just to undo all the good we had done, we decided to have a bottle of wine and our first New Zealand fish and chips experience. I had Tarakihi, which was the first time I had ever heard of the fish let alone ate it, though my dictionary helpfully tells me it’s an edible fish- that’s always nice to know. It kind of reminded me of Tuna, though this could be me and my ignorance when it comes to fish. Both myself and Jen, even though we had enjoyed our meal, slightly missed the greasy mush we have for fish and chips back at home- god knows why!
Our last day on the Coromandel started in a very lazy way. The complete silence of the area, excluding the sounds of the Tui (a native bird that has a very unique song), made us not want to rise from our comfortable abode. When we did finally rise, we were bit bemused as to what we could do; not having a car really limits the possibilities as to what you can do on the peninsular. Thankfully, our hosts Rae and Tuck came to our rescue in the form of a lift up to the Kauri Grove walk, which only takes about 15 - 20 minutes but factoring in some good photographing time is essential - needless to say this is what we did.
These were the oldest Kauri trees we had seen to date and clocked in at the young age of 600 years just a baby in comparison to the oldest, which lasted an impressive 4000 years old. From there we headed along the 309 Road (they call it a road, however to us Brits it was just a gravel track) to the Waiau Falls.
Our next stop was a rather unique day out- the Waiau Waterworks, a sort of gardens with many water powered contraptions and attractions. Odd to describe and even odder to experience, though I again would highly recommend it; a regression to our younger years for both of us. We didn’t capture many images as we were trying to keep the camera dry.
Next destination; Tauranga.
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