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Published: December 31st 2009
After Auckland, I headed to the Coromandel Peninsula. I had hoped to visit this area on my last trip to NZ in 2005 but simply ran out of time. The same now applies to Rotorua - I had hoped to get there but it just didn't pan out. Luckily, it is only a 3 hour flight for me to NZ so I will go there again sometime in the next few years.
Thames
Best described as the little town the 21st century forgot! Such lovely old buildings, great cafes and a relaxed atmosphere.
I stay at the Sunkist Backpackers and enjoyed my two days there - the first, wandering around town and then going to the movies to see "Under the Mountain", a NZ movie filmed in Auckland and focusing on Rangitoto Island. The plot was poor but the scenery was great and I sat there thinking to myself "I was there only yesterday!"
Day 2, I went for a 7 hour walk to the Pinnacles in the Coromandel State Forest. Great walk but way too many rocks and big steps - a lot like some of the lesser used trails in the Grampians in Victoria.
I walked by myself for the most part with 4 young American backpackers rushing off ahead and a couple heading for the hut and an overnight stay trailing behind. After I reached the top, I patiently waited for the gen y cohort to leave (knowing very well they had no intention of sitting in one place for long) and spent 20 minutes alone and in peace with a great view before me.
Coromandel Town
I caught the Intercity bus from Thames to Coromandel, although it was hard to believe it was a standard bus service as Phil, the driver, kept pulling over to let me take happy snaps of the great views of the coast and back to Auckland - you could see the Skytower ever so faintly!
Coromandel was a small town which in its heyday during the gold rush boasted 29 pubs and 29,000 residents. In 2009, there are 3 very quiet pubs and only a few thousand residents.
This is where I really got back into the backpacker groove and met some lovely travellers! Annie, from Taiwan, whom I took to a pub to see her first ever live band, Tina and Ulla
from Germany, great girls, and Kajsa and Toby from Sweden who will lob into Melbourne early in March 2010. Looking forward to a great bar hopping night with them in the lanes of Melbourne!
Apart from a sensational 1.25 hour remedial massage I there, the highlight of Coromandel town for me was the Driving Creek Railway. I heard various stories about the origin of this 3km train track, including from Phil the bus driver, and the one I like the best and want to believe is that this was the vision of one man, a local potter, who built the whole thing himself over the course of 25 years after having his tourism idea rejected by local lending institutions. You can't help but admire a man who has his heart set on something and attains it, no matter the length of time or effort required to get there. The actual railway is one of only three zig-zag railways in the world. I know of one in the Blue Mountains in New South Wales, Australia, but have no idea where the other one is. It is also apparently the only railway in the world with a double decker bridge!
Coromandel Coastal Walkway To get to this 3 hour walk required a shuttle bus, which was driven by Jocelyn, a local who knew the history of the area like the back of her hand and is passionate about the area's flora and fauna. Hence, I felt well educated by the end of the day.
There were 10 walkers, two families of four plus myself and a Canadian named Richard, who set out on a bleak morning from Fletcher Bay. Thankfully, the weather improved markedly and we found ourselves walking in sun and looking out over beautiful blue waters and skies!
Richard was great company as well as a competent NZ wood pigeon spotter (we heard, but did not actually see, all that much wildlife en-route)!
In comparison to the Pinnacles walk, this was a breeze. It also provided fantastic coastal scenery for the entire duration - highly recommended - just don't try to drive there and back in anything but a 4WD!
Whitianga
My final destination on the peninsula was Whitianga. The plan was to see Hot Water Beach, Hahei beach, Cathedral Cove and the Purangi winery. Well, best laid plans and all.........I managed
to see half of this list - and it was the winery to blame - or is it me to blame for insisting on stopping at the winery?
My first day in Whitianga was a very quiet one - wandered around the town and finally finished the first of two books I had hauled over from Australia.
Day 2, I went for a 3 hour ramble over to Cook's beach and back. It was lovely but I could not help smirking at the tsunami warning signs. One of the 'safe' areas was Shakespeare's Cliff - so residents would actually evacuate
towards the water. Am I the only one who thinks this is odd?
In the afternoon, Richard, the Canadian I met in Coromandel, arrived in town complete with smoked Coromandel mussels for lunch - just sensational seafood which I failed to take advantage of in Coromandel town!
Later in the afternoon, we set out on a cycling adventure. The backpacker's manager told us we were unlikely to get any further than Purangi winery and she was not far wrong! After cycling up and down plenty of hills, we arrived at Purangi and were immediately welcomed by
Danny with the first of more than a dozen tastings - started with wine but quickly moving to a variety of fruit liqueurs. My objective was to taste his feijoa liqueur and I was not disappointed with that (one bottle made the trip back to Melbourne) or his feijoa cider. The cider had a decent kick - 8.2%!
In addition to some interesting tastings, Danny was a showman and great storyteller. He characterised the wine tasting habits of the different travellers with ease - picking on the poms and the aussies in particular. I did threaten to leave feigning being insulted to which he accurately responded, 'it's ok, you won't leave, I know you're going to buy some stuff'. Well, to Richard's amazement, I stashed my 3 bottles of feijoa-based alcohol in the 44 gallon drum out the front of the property for collection on the way back. It's New Zealand afterall, no one is going to stop and steal another person's mail!
We resumed our cycling journey but, based on our reduced energy and enthusiasm for hill climbs after all those tastings, we headed directly to hot water beach and decided to save Cathedral cove and Hahei
for the next day. I was really disappointed with hot water beach. At low tide, a very small section of the beach may be dug up to reveal the underground thermal waters - very, very hot. Unfortunately, there were hundreds of people there and so we did not even get to sit in one of the pools. So I guess it is best to say, I have ticked that attraction off my list and need not bother going back.
The next day, a timing mix up with the tour operators cost Richard and I the opportunity to sea kayak around Cathedral Cove and Hahei beach. However, never one to miss an opportunity, we took out the backpacker's single kayaks (big yellow tubs) and had a paddle around the local beach. Not quite the same but ok.
I left Whitianga early on Christmas eve - it was a great spot and I highly recommend the Coromandel Peninsula for a chilled out break.
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