Trains, hunger and squids

Saturday 21 Mar A mixture of sun and clouds, generally warm. 21C. Drove 150km

The Coromandel peninsular deserves exploring. The scenery is fantastic and swathes of it are deserted. Mining and lumber have taken their toll on the mountains, but slowly the jungle is taking over again. Gold was discovered in the 1890s and evidence of the efforts of miners is still to be seen. Several places have old mining machinery on show, some still working. Most of the mine workings have been surrendered to the vegetation, and several tracks in the area warn not to leave the pathway as open shafts still litter the area. The Kauri logging also decimated the area, but once again, nature has taken over and most signs have disappeared. Fortunately, the Government protects those Kauri that still exist and encourages the planting of new trees. As the trees are known to have a lifespan of well over 1000 years, this is a very slow regeneration.

Over in Coromandel, we take the road north on the western side of the peninsular. Just outside down we come to Driving Creek Road. Not far up the road is the DCR, or Driving Creek Railway. This railway was the brainchild of Barry Brickell, a potter and rail enthusiast, who wanted to access the clay further up the mountain. Built over a period of 27 years, mainly by hand, the line climbs up the mountainside 120 metres in just under 3 kilometres. The gauge of the line is very small, only 381mm wide and winds its way up the mountain by means of spirals, zigzags, tunnels and bridges. The line is balanced on a narrow ledge all the way with the jungle only centimetres from the open carriages. The 'piece-de-resistance' of the route is a double-level viaduct with the train passing over the lower level first and then, after a few climbing twists and turns, over the upper level. Not long after this, the train, a diesel powered three coach affair, pulls onto a wooden deck projecting out over the jungle where is stops and then, after changing points, reverses further up the track. At the end of the track lies the 'Eyefull' tower, a lockout point with great views over the Firth of Thames.

Back at the pottery at the bottom, we head out and choose to drive further up Driving Creek Road which rapidly turns to gravel. Not the best descision really, as it is lunchtime and we have no food, just water. The road took us over the Coromandel range again and down into Kennedy Bay before we realised how far we were from civilization. Already some 15km into a gravel road, we press on through wonderful scenery and pretty bays before reaching a more 'major' gravel road near Waikawau. By now we had been 'doing' gravel roads for 30 or more kilometres, so turned back towards Colville where we finally regained surfaced roads again.

Colville is a very small community, but still manages a country store and, fortunately for us, a small cafe. It also has a community centre, and judging by the programme, it is pretty lively; there was an 'all-day jam' going on the day we were there. The road back to Coromandel followed the coast some of the way and is very pretty.

Back in Coromandel, we explored the town and ate an icecream because it was quite warm.

Heading back over the torturous SH25 towards Whitianga, we turn off at Matarangi looking for the beach. It had turned into a housing development that we got entirely lost in. Finallhy, we managed to escape and carried on east. On the road at Kuaotunu, we turned off and follow Black Jack road towards Otama and Opito beaches. The road was gravel, but soon deteriorated in roadworks to a rubble road and for a couple of kilometres the surface was appalling. Both bays were very pretty and had safe sandy beaches, but the sun had deserted us, so no swim\ming.

Back in town, we decide to eat out and find 'Squids', a very pleasant restaurant next to the Marina. Whilst we ate dinner, we were entertained by a wedding party having a sit down meal in the restaurant across the road.