Goodbye Coromandel

Hi all!

This is our final night in the Coromandel, but I've stocked up on $2 coins so I'm good to catch everyone up wioth our going on.


Day 2: Sunday

Mike, the wonderful, let me sleep in after my all-night knitting session, and this is only one reason why I love him so much! Breakfast was with Duncan, Bec, Al and offspring, who were pretty excited about their carols concert later in the day. They sang carols for us, and Mike had fun playing with thier Brio.

We farewelled the house of Macdonald, and drove to see Mike's old buddies Peter & Michelle. Thier little Ava is 17 months old, and what a cutie! We went for brunch & coffee to a local kid-friendly cafe, and they all had fun while I continued to knit like the wind. The main street had lots of sewing shopes, but I resisted the urge to go retail crazy!

After a while Ava needed a nap, so we went back to their house, and I finished the jersey, hurrah! It was so cute, and should still fit her next winter. (Everyone seemed to like it, I hope!)

Road Trip Time! Mike and I powered up the motorway to the Glenbrook Vintage Railway, an old historic rail thingie. Alas, they weren't running their steam engine, (M was sad) but we met up with his buddy Geoff and went for a ride. Fun, fun, fun.

Afterwards we hopped back in the car and continued driving. The landscape here is so pretty, and the colours of the trees and mountains and ocean are the most vivid I think I've ever seen.

We drove to Coromander via Thames. The town here is a typical seafood/tourist town, a few pubs, lots of motels, lots of gift shops, the usual! We found our accommodation, a cute little cabin, made out\rselves comfy, and headed into town for dinner. The pub bistro had "run out of food" (!) so we ended up in the local italian restaurant for gumbo, seafood risotto (me) and Fisk o' the Day (Mike).


Day 3: Monday

Train Geek Excursion #2 - Driving Creek Railway. This mini railway was started by a local hippy/artist/potter who needed to be able to get the clay from his property for making pottery. 35 years later, it's a tourist spot. We climbed the hill, went "ooh" and "aah" at appropriate junctures, and generally had a fun time. Mike's little-boy-excited-grin was in evidence, so cute! The commentary was possibly the lamest comedy I've ever heard - more lame stories later.

Our next destination was the winding (and unsealed) 309 road. Starting just south of Coromandel town, it goes across the penninsula to the east side. We went to the Water World - lots of geeky water fountains, water-powered sculptures, water jets, water... you get the idea. More geeky fun. Further along the 309, we had to stop for some cute, CUTE little baby piggies following their mummy piggy across the road. As we watched, one of the boy piggies was trying to make more baby piggies with any of the girl piggies who would stand still for more than 10 seconds. Piggy backing! Most of the piggies were black, but there were a few spotted piggies too. We later found out that the farmer who lives there just, weel, loves pigs, and his farm is a no-hunting-no-dog farm, so the local wild piggies use it as a sanctuary when it's hunting season and hang out with the tame piggies.

Next along the road was a Kauri grove. Kauri are the mo-fo big NZ trees that were nearly felled to extinction in the early boat-making days of the colony. We wandered along the path that led to a group of about 8 massive, MASSIVE trees, about 15 metres in circumference each. There was also the Siamese kauri - two trees that have grown together. It was very quiet and calm in the grove.

We drove along the rest of the 309 road to the east of the penninsula and checked out the town of Whitianga (my slepping is probably really bad - sorry). Another basic costal tourist town. The road trip continued up and back to Coromandel.

We left the car at our motel and walked into town - only about 15 minutes down the hill. We were just trying to have a non-complicated dinner, and managed to grab some yummy fush & chups to eat at the local pub. After I had to help the bardude with our cocktail order, he ended up chatting to us for ages, and we had a nice evening. We started to walk back to our motel when the heavens opened, so we stopped intot he nearest shelter - another pub (Mum and Dad, I swear, I'm not an alcoholic! Honest!) We had a few while we waited for the rain to die down, and ended up only getting slightly damp as we trudged back up the hill.


Day 4: Tuesday

Today was North Coromandel day. We started out with a steak & cheese pie from the local bakery and drove north, through Coalville to the north of the penninsular. The coastline was exquisitely beautiful, and the colours again were really vivid. Navigating the unsealded road between Coalville and Port Charles, Stony Beach & Sandy Beach was kinda fun. (Joy, don't worry, we took really good care of your little car!) My early driving experiences, aka "Get out of the bloody armco, girl" came to my aid and we made it safe and sound back to town. The afternoon was spent at the Gold Stamp press thingie, where the not-very-good guide showed us how to avoid getting mercury poisioning. A life skill I'm sure will have many applications.

Tomorrow we'll be going on a glass-bottomed boat ride, can't wait!

Cheers, Helen