Coromandel On the Queen's BD

The Queen's Birthday, observed this year in NZ June 4th, is an occasion for a three-day weekend throughout the Commonwealth, but it is virtually never on the Queen's real birthday, and is celebrated on different days in different countries (or in the case of Australia, different days in the same country). We used it as an excuse to take a trip to the Coromandel Peninsula, resuming a journey from January 2011 interrupted by Typhoon Wilma. I was unsure about the weather as it has been a bit "dodgy" as they say here, and I knew it can rain like crazy over there. The weather reports are no help. The newspapers forecasts come in "Fine", "Mostly Fine", and "Fine, with Showers". It turned out to be a spectacular weekend, the best weather in a  month.

The peninsula juts out east of Auckland, separating the Hauraki Gulf from the Pacific Ocean. Friday night we took a 2.5 hour shuttle ride around the Thames estuary to Coromandel Town, a charming Mendocino-esque village of 1,500.

The whole area has a Mendocino/Kauai/counterculture/Green/retro vibe that is very familiar.
Day One we rented a car an drove up to the northern tip of the Coromandel. Many roads are gravel and very narrow, but the traffic is light.

Coming over the hillock, you can see the Great Barrier Island beyond the white sands of Port Jackson.

A few more kilometers away, the road ends at Fletcher Bay, which is also the beginning of the Coromandel Walkway around the rugged East Coast (like a mini Lost Coast back home).

Fletcher Bay

What can I say? It was just beautiful.

Day Two was time for a drive over to the east side. First stop was Whangapoua, a lovely spot in its own right.

It is also is the gateway to New Chums Beach, which has the distinction and/or curse to get the ridiculous designation in 2006 of being one of the 20 Best Deserted Beaches in the World by The Observer, a UK newspaper. The beach is protected somewhat because there is no road access and you have a short walk over some large rocks and a muddy trail to reach it, but it is worth it.

New Chums looking North...

and South

After a quiet stroll the length of the beach, we drove next to Whitianga in time to catch a Glass Bottom Boat tour of the coastline and the Hahei Marine Reserve. The volcanic rock and pumice makes for dramatic cliffs, caves, and blowholes. The jewel here is Cathedral Cove, which looks like this from the sea....

and like this if you hiked down to it.

Here are some other nice photos from our cruise. The Glass-Bottom part was underwhelming, the water a bit cloudy and the fishies a bit sparse.

A basking seal

The big day ended with a drive back west through the wooded hilly spine of the Coromandel along unpaved Road 309, said to be named for the time it took a horse-drawn carriage to cross it. We stopped to visit a small grove of few of the remaining ancient kauri trees, giants nearly wiped out by logging them in the 19th century.

Day Three was spent in and around Coromandel Town. A short hike out of town took us to the top of a hill and site of a former Mauri fort, or pa, with a fine view of the tidewaters and muscle and oyster farms famous in this area.

Then it was a short trip back up Road 309 to The Waterworks, a real "old school" family-owned and run roadside attraction. Part old-fashioned swimming hole, part elaborate playground, part signage with pre-email lists of Amusing Anecdotes and Fascinating Facts, and part Rube Goldbeg-inspired water-powered clocks and mechanical geegaws, it is a vanishing part of Kiwiana and a reminder of simpler times, pure family-friendly fun (and a favorite of Fayne).

The final stop was one of my favorites, the Driving Creek Railways and Potteries, the labor of love of Kiwi icon Barry Brickell, New Zealand's first full-time handcraft potter. The narrow-gauge train was all built by hand, including the engines and cars, trestles and tunnels,and initially was made to bring clay down to the potter's studio.

 

It gradually expanded over the years until it reached to boundary of his property and was open to the public. The track-side and tunnels are decorated with ceramic figures.

Barry is also dedicated to restoring native flora like kauri trees (due to mature in about two millennia), and fauna with a small vermin-proof wildlife sanctuary.

The train climbs up to the terminus to the punfully-named "Eyefull Tower" for a majestic view.

After three long and fulfilling tourist days, it was time to catch the ferry for the 2.5 hour moonlit sail

back to Auckland. We head down to the South Island next week to visit old friends and familiar places, the back to the US to do the same for two weeks, and back to work here July 1st.