Coromandel 2

March 14 - A somewhat eccentric gentleman named Barry Brickell bought 60 acres of scrubland just outside Coromandel Town southeast of Auckland back in 1973 after giving up being a teacher and deciding to become a potter. In order to get the clay down from the hilly parts of his land, he decided to build a narrow-gauge railway 2.6 km up the mountain using not much more than some homemade instruments and lots of hope. (The fact that he never married or had kids explains how he managed such a monumental task at all!) For years he would take visitors up on his train just to give them a ride, but about 15 years ago, his friends persuaded him to make it a commercial venture (he had incurred quite a sizeable debt to build the thing) and it has really taken off. There is now a shop that sells not only his pots, but also pottery done by many local artists including glassware and wood carving. My guide book told me that there were 2 train departures a day, but when we got there, there were about 8, so it is obviously a going concern. The little train weaves its way up the mountain, having to reverse 4 times to manage the tight corners and steep grade until it gets to the top where Barry has built an Eyefull Tower which has tremendous views (once you recover from the really bad pun). He is also a keen conservationist and has organized lots of tree planting on his land, which will revert to the National Trust when he dies so that it can never be sold. So that was an interesting morning! We drove down the coast road (incredibly wiggly and steep) and have landed in a tiny place called Miranda where there is a mineral hot spring which we have already made good use of (see picture).
Completely off topic, 3 things are in my head to write down:
1) It is very weird to see trees turning colour and losing their leaves in March!
2) I have just checked our itinerary for our tour of Japan and note with delight that we can look forward to “resplendent enjoyments” when we reach Hakone!
3) If only I could remember what it was …….Oh yes! Heather - you might be interested to know (and other people too if they’re interested in the sounds of language) that Maori appears to consist only of stops (mainly unvoiced), liquids and vowels. They have a kind of sibilant as they pronounce /wh/ almost like /f/, but when they are reduced to so few sounds, no wonder they make their vowels work hard!! (“New Zealand” = “Aotearoa” - each one pronounced individually).
March 15 - Onward and upward. We are now heading north of Auckland towards the Bay of Islands. We had quite a long drive today (I don’t think either of us will want to drive ever again after this!) along a beautiful coast line with almost deserted roads which was very pleasant. And then all of a sudden, we were on a Motorway going through Auckland with 4 lanes each way and everyone in a hurry, knowing exactly where they were going. We emerged unscathed and have landed at Goat Island Marine Reserve which my guide book told me (Warning: guidebooks sometimes lie!) had amazing marine life. So we duly rented snorkeling equipment and headed out to sea. We saw lots of seaweed and rocks, a few snapper and trumpet fish-like things but not much else. Maybe the fish were all away on vacation - but it was rather disappointing. We’re headed up the coast tomorrow to a place which my guidebook tells me (?!) is one of the world’s top 10 dive spots ………
March 17 - Hurray! At last a positive underwater experience! Our third attempt was a success. We went out with a very professional group on a snorkeling day trip out to Poor Knights Islands (no apostrophe!!) We are neither of us 100% sure what would happen to John’s pacemaker if we went on scuba, so we are playing it safe. The summer is almost at an end here and everyone is either back to school or back to work so the only people around are us foreign tourists. So on a boat which carries us to 70 people in high season, we set off with 14 other souls plus 3 crew. We moored in a nice protected bay, jumped over the side and THERE WERE FISH!!! Lots and lots of fish. Apparently this particular spot is unusual as it is bathed in a warm water current which brings all kinds of food along with it and of course that means lots of things to feed on the food. So even John was quite happy! He had rented an underwater camera and all the pictures are on a chip, so can’t put any on the blog, but fish life was prolific. The coast round the islands is volcanic and very spiky and full of caves and arches. The captain was very knowledgeable about the Maori stories and history and he took the boat through all kinds of interesting little nooks and crannies, including into the biggest marine cave in the world (by volume). It really was huge and the acoustics were amazing - he sounded the boat’s horn in there and the echo went on for ages. We had a really nice lunch, and on the way home, came across the most amazing sight. It was pretty windy so we were bumping along the waves when we saw this huge gathering of gannets on the water. Actually, some of them were on the water and some in the air, diving like arrows into the water. There were literally hundreds of birds dive bombing a school of fish, and then they were joined by an incredible number of dolphins. The captain said he had never seen so many all together - there were literally hundreds of them all around the boat, surfing down the waves and hunting the fish along with the gannets. We stopped to watch them for about 20 minutes and then either they ran out of fish or the fish moved on, but it was a wonderful way to end the day. And again the weather gods were very kind - it was a gorgeous day after rather an unpromising start.
We’re now headed for the Bay of Islands which we hear is quite beautiful - follow along!