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Published: January 16th 2014
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Sunday January 5th, 2014. The 309 Road and the Coromandel Peninsula, North Island, New Zealand
Coromandel Town is a rapidly growing holiday spot. It developed following the discovery of gold at Driving Creek. It boomed in the mid 19th century. Today it is a hippy place with lots of boaties, and arty crafty people. A pleasant little place.
Today we had planned to drive across the Peninsula. M had found an alternative way (as opposed to going on the main highway) of getting there using a road called Route 309. NZ's famous 309 road is a scenic 20 kilometer journey which crosses the backbone of the Coromandel Peninsula from east to west. Mostly unsealed, it showcases spectacular scenery as it winds through farmland, pine forests and extensive areas of native bush. It is called the 309 because it used to take 3 hours and 9 minutes to travel from Whitianga to Coromandel Town in a horse-drawn coach.
The first thing we came to on the 309 was Stuart & the Wild Pigs - Famous throughout the region Stuart lives 3 km up the 309 road. His place is home to 100+ wild pigs, peacocks and all sorts of
other beasties. In the 30's there was a quarry and a school house here. Now it is a bit of a mess and a bit pongy. We took some snaps of the porkers.
Next we came to The Waterworks. This is an ever changing theme park inspired by the ability to create something new out of something old. 70% of all the materials used in the construction of their attractions are recycled. Their crazy inventors have taken car axels, washing machines, scrap metals, telegraph poles, broken golf tees, discarded swimming pool filters, buckets, numerous re-used pots an pans, kids potties, hot water cylinders, anoraks, mussel floats, tyres, teaspoons and more and created remarkable attractions such as the music box and the iconic water clock. This is a real eco attraction with 100% of the wood coming from a sustainable forest only 35 km away, 100% of water to power attractions is gravity fed from the creek, no electricity is used in the gardens of the park. 100% of the water is heated with solar power, 100% of the waste water is filtered and recycled and used in the veggie garden.
Whoever designed the park had a great sense
of humour. We visited all the attractions at the park. The Potty and Klickity Klacks attraction uses 17 bits of drainpipe, a Victorian potty, an old toilet and something that resembles a dinosaur. This was the first thing we saw on entering the park. The Mr Bones attraction is an old Raleigh bike with 48 pieces of petal riveted to the back wheel to crate a rider. The Pendulum Clock is the most famous attraction at the park. It was created after the electricity company shifted the power and left a redundant pole in the grounds. What else would you do with it other than turn it into a 10 metre high clock, powered by 3 rocks and an old diving air tank? It keeps pretty good time too! The Music box is made from 6 Sheffield Steel knives, a car axel, a 50 gallon oil drum and 50 or so rivets which turn powered by water. The last attraction, worthy of a mention in the park, is The Electricity Generator. 12 desert spoons welded to a metal bar. Point a jet of water at them so that they spin and stick the other end of the metal bar inside
the motor of a washing machine. Hey presto! Turn the water on an you have your own little power plant.
Next on Route 309 is Castle Rock (the sleeping giant) and just past the waterworks is the road that leads up to it. It is a popular lookout point. It is an old volcanic cone that rises up into the sky. We didn't bother as it was an hour to the top and very steep - but we took a snap and continued on towards Whitianga.
Further along route 309 we came to the Watau Falls. We parked on the side of the road with everyone else and walked down to this pretty waterfall. It is a fairly impressive waterfall, set in a peaceful glade. The pool below the falls is a popular swimming hole an there were plenty of people in the water. There were some youths who climbed to the top of the falls an jumped in from there. They were having a ball.
We bypassed Whitianga and headed out towards th Kuaotunu Healand on the Black Jack Road. This was another find in the AA book. The road winds around the coastline to Opito
and Otama Bays. The gravel road was a small price to pay in order to see these splendid unspoilt beaches. We came first to Otama Bay which is a virtually untouched glistening white sand beach with a wetland nature reserve behind it. Continuing on the hairy Black Jack Road we came to Opito Bay which has a long golden beach that is perfect for swimming or fishing. The was a sign telling us that the NZ Dotterels were nesting on the beach - so we had to watch out in case we accidentally trod on one or its eggs! Off the coast we could see the Mercury Islands.
Another find in the AA book was a place called New Chums Beach at Whangapoua. There is a river estuary at Whangapoua and you have to cross this in order to walk to the beach. Once we had waded over the river we started on the 30 or so minute walk to New Chums Beach. It was heavy going, walking over large black boulders for the first half a kilometer. We arrived at the beach which is apparently (according to the AA guide) named one of the top 20 beaches in
35. M on Chums Beach Walk
Having just crossed the estuary on the way to the beach. the world by a UK magazine (didn't mention which one). Just after we arrived it started to rain. We headed back to the car, clambering over the boulders and getting soaked. M got even more soaked though, when she slipped on a rock crossing back over the estuary stream. One soaked M and, more importantly, one soaked mobile phone. Phone is extinct, dead as a Moa! - good job we have a spare. M changed into some dry clothes in the car. We returned to the holiday park and washed and dried our wet stuff in the laundry. We had bought some potatoes so now we could eat the lamb chops which we did. This is our last night here.
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