Steam

Trip Start Oct 01, 2008
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Trip End Dec 30, 2009


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Wednesday, November 19, 2008

The road up the west coast of the Coromandel Peninsula is a bit like the old road up the west side of Loch Lomond that J&I remember. Lots of twists and turns as the routre follows the shoreline. The roads are quiet and we entertain ourselves by spotting camper vans and trying to decide if they are larger or smaller than the one that we have booked for later next week. We roll into the town of Coromandel. It seems much more lively than Thames with cafes and backpacker haunts. Picnic lunch by the coast then back for a trip on the Driving Creek Railway. This narrow guage line was buit by Barry Brickell, a local potter, sculptor and train buff to transport clay down the hillside. Over time, he has extended it to 3km and opened it to the public. The hillside is dotted with sculpures and some of the retaining walls are made from bottles. He has also put a lot of effort into conservation, replanting native trees and reintroducing native animals. It is a slightly eccentric but very entertaining visit. Recommended.


The next visit is to an equally unusual attraction, the Waiui Waterworks where there is a combination of plant interest and water driven curios.

We drive over the hills on a winding gravel road to the other side of the peninsula stopping at a grove of kauri trees. The oldest one we see was a sapling 600yr ago and is now 1.9m across. This part of New Zealand used to be covered with these huge slow growing trees but they were logged almost to the point of eradication. The trees were first cut down on a big scale by the Royal Navy to use as masts and spars on sailing ships. The oldest survivors are several thousand years old.


On the East Coast, we visit the Hot Sands Beach where a section of the shore is heated by volcanic steam to such a degree that the sand is too hot to walk on. People more prepared than us come with shovels and dig themselves holes in which they then gently simmer. Each to their own. It is on the backpacker circuit and as we leave at about 1800, a party is clearly warming up.


Back at our base, we cook ourselves a meal. After weeks of restaurant dining, it is a welcome change to be able to eat our own food at our own pace. The wine helped, obviously.
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