We're on the road to nowhere, aha

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We set off today down the west coast. There was nothing there! No towns for miles. We drove through Dargaville and Helensville. We arrived in Auckland early evening and went for a well deserved beer. Tried to call parents at 6am sunday morning! oopps!

31.10.05 Got up and headed for the Coramandel, Thames. Had a walk around the town and had our lunch on our own private beach. Mel sunbathed whilst Andy played in the rock pools. Stayed in Waimou just north of Thames.

1.11.05 Today we went to an old gold mine and stamper battery. This area is known for gold. Coramandel is where they first found gold in New Zealand in late 1800's. In Waihi there is still a working open cast mine today that produces millions of dollars a week. The old guy at the mine took us on a tour underground through the dripping, narrow tunnels. He showed us the reef which is what they look for to get the gold. We got our own piece of reef! We also got some quartz by breaking it off with our car keys. Above ground he showed us the process of extracting the gold from the rocks. He also started up the stamper battery, noisy, which was cool and old fashioned.
From here we drove to Coramandel town, through some beautiful scenery along the coast. All of New Zealand is beautiful, very green and hilly. There is an amazing view at the top of every hill, you never know what to expect.
Got to Coramandel town and booked into a holiday park and made the most of the sun and chilled out around the van. We had a BBQ in the evening which Andy cooked brilliantly. Had a few beers and then into the tv room as it was chilly outside.

2.11.05 Today was lovely so we spent the morning in the sun at the site and round the pool(we always look now for a pool when we choose our sites), had our lunch (usual ham and cheese sandwiches, crisps and choc choc). In the afternoon we had a walk to Driving Creek Railway (we thought this was a short walk, but turned out to be quite a way so we had a fast walk). The driving creek railway is an old railway that goes through the native bush and up to a look out called the 'eyeful tower'. One man built it over 25 years and he's still working on it at 75! It was first used to bring clay down to the pottery yard. The ride was an hour return over some pretty high viaducts and one dead end that hung over the edge of the hill. The views were pretty impressive.
We walked back into 'town' one street, and had a walk to the jettie but nothing was happening down there. Had a drink in a bar then went back to the site as it was looking grey.

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