Coromandel: Day One Hundred and Twenty-Four - Evening (21 February)

The view from the “Eyefull Tower” at Driving Creek Railway is fabulous.

Afterwards we drove to a local peninsula to admire more lovely scenery - New Zealand is so gorgeous it’s easy to become blasé – and then had a delicious dinner at the Pepper Tree restaurant.

Barnaby

Coromandel: Day One Hundred and Twenty-Four - Afternoon (21 February)

Miss Robb’s sister had recommended we visit the Driving Creek Railway so after lunch on our motel verandah we headed there. What a fascinating place. The owner originally built the railway to access the clay he needed for his pottery business so we had a look round that first before joining the train.

We were in the last carriage which turned out to be the first carriage on the way back so we couldn’t have had a better seat. The switchback bridge was particularly fun. The whole site is environmentally friendly with the intention of preserving New Zealand's unique ecology.

Barnaby

Coromandel: Day One Hundred and Twenty-Four - Morning (21 February)

Coromandel isn’t only the name of the peninsula; it’s also the name of the town where we were spending our second to last night in New Zealand.

We had a lovely drive there along the coastal highway from Whitianga.

Barnaby

Cathedral Cove: Day One Hundred and Twenty-Two - Afternoon (19 February)

From Hot Water Beach we drove to Whitianga, checked into our motel and had lunch.

Then we drove to Hahei to walk the trail to Cathedral Cove. It is a 45 minute walk each way along a track with lots of steps but it is well worth it. The views all the way are gorgeous and Cathedral Cove itself is stunning.

Once we got back to the car, we drove to Cook’s Beach and got a take away for dinner.

Barnaby

Hot Water Beach: Day One Hundred and Twenty-Two - Morning (19 February)

From Tairua we drove a few miles up the road to the famous Hot Water Beach, where natural hot springs rise just below the surface.

You don’t have to dig very deep before the hole is filled with water and the trick to making your own spa pool is to dig it close enough to the ocean for the tide to bring in cool seawater. Too close and the “bath” will be cold and too far away and it will be too hot to sit in. Digging a large enough hole in the wet sand is quite hard work!

We’d gone at the time we were told the tide would be ideal (which might explain why there were so many other people there) but didn’t manage to find our own hot spot.

It was interesting to see though.

Barnaby

Tairua: Day One Hundred and Twenty-One - Afternoon (18 February)

We stopped at Karangahake Gorge for a walk and a cup of tea before driving on to the Pacific Harbour Lodge in Tairua where we spent the night.

Barnaby

Tairua: Day One Hundred and Twenty-One - Morning (18 February)

Alison had to leave for work by 7.30am! We had a more leisurely start before leaving Auckland.

First stop was Ngatea where we looked around the beautiful and inventive water gardens. Unlike King Arthur I couldn't pull the sword out of the stone :-).

Barnaby