Blogs from Coromandel, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 10

Friday we headed north and east towards the Coromandel Peninsula with a stop off at Maungatautari Ecological Island reserve - a mountain that has been fenced off with a predator-proof fence & extensive predator removal inside has created a virtually predator-free reserve where native birdlife such as Kaka, Hihi & Kiwis can survive & breed. The have an observation tower & up the top we met a student studying the Kakas breeding in the reserve. We had a nice long chat about the joys of ecology fieldwork whilst the birds were being elusive! We stopped briefly in Putaruru & grabbed a couple of pies for lunch then again to go & peer at the McLaren Falls then up to Tauranga & the coast. We then headed up the coast to the Karangahake Gorge where we stayed ... read more

Day 5 A long, uninterrupted sleep for a change. A quick check on the TV news revealed that the headline story was about a man killed in a tractor accident. Apparently, while we slept, we also missed the switching on of the “famous” Franklin Road Christmas lights by the mayor of Auckland. If only we had known we could have done it! After breakfast went back to the airport by bus and took a shuttle from there to the Campervan hire place just off the airport complex. Whizzed through a familiarisation hour and off on the road in the afternoon. Van was similar to a Transit van but another 6 feet longer with windows all round. It was easy to drive though and came with automatic gears and was a diesel so cheaper to run. It ... read more

Auckland to Coromandel (Well, let’s be honest, Auckland to Coromandel via all suburbs of Auckland SE and SW of the great Route 1 South Highway!) Whilst picking up the Spaceship© (ie small car masquerading as camper – won’t we all have lots of fun until it rains!) was straight forward, as was driving on the left in a RH-drive car-like vehicle , following our instructions to return to the highway was anything but. Our initial feelings that Auckland was a small city were completely squashed today as we drove through lots and lots of interlinked suburbs (with absolutely no signs telling you how to get away from them) – so that is where the 1.3 million people live! Finally, and swallowing all pretensions to be an Englishman abroad, I stopped and asked for directions. Five minutes ... read more

Day 8 Wednesday Up and off by 10ish. Long journey today driving down through Auckland and then east to Hahei on the Coromandel Penninsula. Took most of the day. Lovely B&B 200 yards from the beach, had supper at the local pub and after a walk to the beach and a paddle off for an early night. ... read more

As Fern and I were taking a shortcut to the mall Friday afternoon were walked through a swampy gully with a boardwalk. The path was packed with beautiful trees and a birds and a little trickling stream and was simple magical looking! Fern was laughing at me for being so enthralled by everything I saw and promised me that if I thought the “smelly swamp” was pretty, I would go absolutely bonkers when we got to the beach. She was right but more about that later. I should really document all this in chronological order. So after our walk around the shopping center Fern and I continued our tour around the neighborhood by stopping by the most incredible playground I’ve ever seen! New Zealand is a world leader in extreme adventure sports and is undoubtedly home ... read more