Tuesday - rail and roads

It rained heavily in the night, so today didn't look a good day for any walking trips. Instead we took a ride on the Driving Creek Railway. This was the brainchild/obsession of a man called Barry Brickell who started building a narrow gauge railway to get clay out of the hills for his pottery business.

Started in1973, opened to the public in 1990 and finished in 2002, the railway climbs over 100m along a mainline length of 3km. It includes 10 bridges (including a double decker bridge), 3 tunnels and 5 reversing points or switchbacks.

Some sections are lined with bricks, all fired in his own pottery, other side banks are built up with old tyres or walls of glass bottles. Pottery art and sculptures turn up in unexpected points. The end of the journey is at Eyefull Tower, a viewpoint overlooking Coromandal Town and the sea.  A great journey with a very pleasant chat to our driver Paul, who was also a potter at the studio.

We then drove north until we ran out of paved road at Colville where we had lunch. Driving back to Coromandel Town we took the main road route over to the east coast of the peninsular. The coast there was flatter and had more open beaches.

We drove through heavy rain in Whitianga, then down to Hot Water Beach. This is an area where hot water springs are just below the sands, but are only accessible for about 2 hours either side of low tide. We arrived just as the tide was getting low enough

Everyone congregated in two small areas of the vast beach, digging shallow holes in the sand where you could enjoy the hot water bubbling to the surface. It was very localised, being too hot to stand in in one place, and being cold 50cm away.

We decided not to dig, but just to paddle and immerse our feet into the sand. It was a fun and quirky way to spend 1/2 hour, especially encouraging others to dig holes while we cheered them on. So strange to have scalding (literally) feet on a beach.

 The tide was not really low enough, every now and again a large wave would rush in and destroy all the carefully dug holes.  Spades could be rented at the local cafe, and they obviously made a good profit on them judging by the number of identical spades we saw in use.

 Leaving the beach we drove back to our bach via an unpaved road, The 309 Road.  This took us past a Kauri grove, and we had a chance to hug one of these immense trees.  This was a Siamese twin tree.  One of the other trees there was about 600 years old, so a seedling when the Maori first arrived in NZ and a sapling when Joan of Arc was around.  Kauri trees can live up to 4000 years!  

Back at our friendly bach/gite we BBQed steaks and avocados for dinner, then retired indoors away from all the small biting things.

Tomorrow we head south to Te Aroha to meet Robert and Stella for a couple of nights and to do some walking trips.

Monday - The Road to Coromandel

Today has been a very gentle day. We woke, broke our fast, then said goodbye to our plane. A strange place to stay, not particularly comfortable, but great fun.

Our first stop was the centre of Hamilton for the Vodafone store. Our problems with the phone were quickly resolved, so after a coffee and a quick look at the shops we were on our way again.

Next stop was at Morrinsville for groceries, then we took the back roads to the start of the Coromandel Peninsular at a town called Thames.

Thames is a fairly small town nowadays, but in the 1870s it was the largest town in New Zealand with over 20,000 inhabitants. The reason was gold! A group of four Cornish miners had found a rich golf vein and removed a huge quantity of gold in the first three weeks.    One vein of gold was so rich in an adjacent mine that the stampers kept clogging up with the amount of gold (about 20%) in the ore.

We visited the site of the original gold mine in Thames and had a delightful tour round the mine and the remaining outbuildings. Our guide was an ex sea skipper, originally from the UK, who now volunteers at the mine, which is trying to rebuild the original stampers.

Leaving the mine we drove north along the west side of the Coromandel. The views were wonderful, all mountains to our right and sea to our left, and another very winding road.

After some time we approached Coromandel harbour, and could see strange regular structures in the sand. We guessed it was oyster beds, which was confirmed when we rounded the corner and found the Coromandel Oyster Company.

Just north of Coromandel Town we found our bach for the next two nights, Parsloe's Cottage. It is a small two bedroomed cottage in the grounds of the owner's house, right next to the turning for Driving Creek Railway.

We had, of course, bought a dozen oysters at the store, so that was our starter sorted!! They were delicious. We followed that with barbecued lamb and aubergine with a watermelon salad, then had to retire indoors when the mossies started biting. And after trying to photograph the Tui bird unsuccessfully all trip, a pair of them came and sat in the tree right next to us and entertained us with the myriad of noises they can produce from their two voice boxes.

Sunday - caves and glow worms

Today we explored part of the Waitomo cave system with a guide from Kiwi Caving. We arrived at their office just before 9 am with swim costume, towel and spare socks in hand.

Firstly the six in our party were driven about 15 mins to a small building in a field where we changed into our costumes, full wet suit gear and a climbing harness. Then it was another 2 mins drive to the entrance of the cave.

This part of the system is 8 km long, though we only did a small section of that. We abseiled down 30m to the cave floor where we waited in about 20cm of water for the whole party to descend. Danny, our guide (from Somerset in the UK) was very good at teaching us how to use the equipment, and how to be safe. Mick and I were impressed at the improved abseiling gear from when we had last done some (about 40 years ago, so maybe it wasn't too surprising).

Danny then took us along a downstream section of the complex and took us through a small hole at the side of the passage. One of the best moments was when we were completely out of sight of the entrance and all switched our lamps off. The glow worms were fantastic, hundreds on the roof of the cave, each dangling down a series of small sticky lines to try and catch any passing gnats or other small insects. It was like seeing a perfect starry night, except that all the glow worms were of a similar brightness.

Danny showed us a resident eel in that section, nicknamed Gollum. It was possible to stroke him behind the head, and he seemed totally unafraid (or possibly unaware) or us. Eels are weird, they hunt in the dark, live in the water, but come out of the water to sleep.

Moving downstream we picked up a rubber tyre ring each, then floated in a convey further down the river. We climbed through some more small gaps, and slid down a short hole arms first. We saw more glow worms, then all had a hot drink and some chocolate to stave off the cold. More floating in the tyres (there was very little water in the caves today) then we made our way back to the entrance.

To get out of the cave we had to climb up a fairly steep (nearly vertical) section of rock, though very securely attached to a safety line. The rocks in the whole area are karst, a type of limestone layered with mud, which means they often look more like man made bricks than natural rocks. It also means plenty of foot and hand holds for climbing.

Back at the office at about 1.45 we were given fresh rolls and tomato soup whilst we looked at the photos Danny had taken during our trip. We bought a copy, but at the moment are having problems loading the pictures onto my iPad ready for uploading onto the blog. I'll try to add them soon!

After a coffee at a nearby cafe Mick and I went on to walk the Ruakuri Bushwalk. This was an excellent walk through bush (surprised?) and up and over a number of rocky outcrops and past caves following a steam. Another excellent DOC reserve, with several wow moments. We even saw large freshwater crayfish in the stream.

We continued driving towards the west and visited the Mangapohue Natural Bridge, then the Piripiri caves, and finally seeing the Marakopa Falls (can you see me in the photo below?), a very large waterfall. 

Dinner was back near our motel/plane, at a restaurant called Huhu, and was excellent. Since then we have been wrestling with trying to get the cave photos to be accessible on my iPad, and trying to change our plan with Vodafone as our two month deal, started when we arrived here, is about to expire. All we seem to have done so far is agree to have a new plan, thereby being suddenly cut off from our old plan, and now unable to pay anything to activate the new plan as we have no service! A visit to Vodaphone is going to have to happen tomorrow, when I might be able to upload this blog!

Saturday - the Turangawaewae Regatta

Another very different day! We left Rotorua and the delightful Fiona (our landlady at the Hideaway Motel) fairly early this morning to make our way past Hamilton to Ngaruawahia, the home of the Maori King. We were going to attend the second day of the annual regatta, held this year for the 120th time.

It was a bit like attending the Ashby Show, an event purely for the locals, not focused on tourists at all. At 11am we had the first salute from the Maori war canoes.  These were seven beautifully carved canoes from various eras, paddled by up to 30 men. The Maori King was sadly not actually present today, but there were a large number of invited VIPs present and some of these took the salute as the canoes passed the main stage. We think one was the Taiwan ambassador to NZ, but it was hard to be sure. 

The races were a mixture of waka and waka ama (canoes with outriggers) events for children through to adults. By the finish line there was also a floating stage where there was a constant series of entertainers, from primary school children singing island songs to rap artists.

We paid to take a tour of the Turangawaewae Marae which is only open to the public for this one day a year. Our guide, Patti, was slightly disorganised but still gave us a good idea of what the Marae was all about. We had expected a single building, but it was actually a huge complex including spaces where they could entertain 1000 people at a time. They were preparing a major meal for the invited guests as we went round which somewhat limited what our guide could show us. It was basically like Buckingham Palace but for the Maori King, including buildings for administration, entertainment, lodgings and cultural purposes.

A group from the Marae were probably the best group of the day, singing songs and hukas which everyone enjoyed. It was so nice to feel the entertainment was real, and not tailored to what tourists wanted and could understand. However, we were very glad we had read lots at museums and had had some basics of the culture explained to us as it really helped our enjoyment and understanding of the day.

Apart from the canoes, the entertainment and the rides for the kids there was also a wood cutting competition. This event (one of many) was for the fastest to cut through a 28 cm trunk of wood, other events we saw were for mixed doubles sawing through a trunk. Everyone was extremely serious about it!

At around 3pm there was a second salute from the war canoes, then a lot of people started leaving. We stayed on to listen to an excellent group called JFS (jazz, fleminco and soul) before driving off to our next overnight lodging.

We are staying tonight at Woodlyn Park, in a Bristol Freighter aircraft! It is NZ5906, flown in 1952 at Farnborough, and now converted into two small units. There is also a ship, a train and a hobbit house here that you can stay in!

Our unit is in the cockpit of the aircraft, with two double beds, one just behind the pilots station which is remarkably intact. Should I bother pointing out that Mick chose this motel? He's almost stopped grinning now.

The second double bed is in the noise of the aircraft, with a small kitchen cum sitting and eating area just behind, and a minute bathroom behind that. There is another unit in the tail with a single double bed, but no one is staying there tonight.

Tomorrow we are going caving in Waitomo, so an early start again. 

Friday - springs, birds and walks

Our original plan for today was to go and visit the Buried Village and the Waimangu Volcanic Valley, but then we decided we had seen enough geo-thermal areas and smelt enough sulphur, and a gentle walk would be much nicer.

Out first port of call was the Hamurana Springs, a lovely area where North Island's largest spring wells up out of a 15 metre hole. The resulting river is extremely clear, and very deep in places, and we could see large brown trout swimming in the depths.

There was a redwood grove along the banks, with enormous trees towering over the river.

Just to give you a feel for the size of the trees Mick tried hugging one.

The river was home to ducks, geese and a few shag. We watched this one diving for some time. He seemed to be catching fresh water crayfish. The water was so clear we could see the ducks diving. Almost 5 million litres an hour flow out of the spring and it is an impressive site. In one area we could see more springs coming up under water causing the sand to 'dance' at the bottom. Far nicer springs than those we had seen on the South Island, and far less managed.

P

As we walked back along the river edge we were mobbed by a group of five fantails. They were flying around our heads and almost landing on Mick's hand as they swopped around us and displayed their tails. They move so fast it is hard to get a photo of them, especially when their tails are fanned out.

Our next port of call was the Okere Falls, and a nice easy walk along a trail by the river. There were several spectacular falls along the river, and it is a favourite site for rafting companies, especially the 7m drop at this waterfall.

We spent some time watching the rafters and kayakers, then moved further down stream to see the Trout Pool. This was a large, very deep, pool presumably full of trout, though we didn't actually see any.

We had a picnic lunch at a peaceful spot overlooking Lake Rotoiti, in a small field filled with white butterflies and yellow daisy type flowers.

It was a lovely remote spot, and found completely by accident as we tried to find a road down to the lakeside.

 Our final walk of the day was a 3.5 km trail up to a trig point in the Otanewainuku Scenic Reserve, an area of old growth virgin forest.  It was a lovely walk, filled with birdsong and more intrepid fantails.  We could hear tui birds calling but failed to spot any.  At the top there was a lookout point with some lovely views, though all very hazy.

Then it was time to head back to our motel ready for nibbles and a drink before dinner.

Thursday - an active volcano

Today was the long awaited visit to White Island, an active volcano 49km off the coast of NZ. We, and 58 other people, arrived at the office at 8.45am, then boarded our boat at 9.15.

First obstacle was the bar at the harbour mouth, a very tight channel between rocks at the outflow of a river. After that we had an hour and a half through a fairly large swell out to the island.

After arriving the inflatable was launched to see if a landing was possible.  The problem was that the normal wharf had been badly damaged in the recent tropical storm.  After looking at, and trying, a few possibilities the crew decided we needed to wait another hour or so until the wind and the swell had died down.

We circumnavigated the island, seeing a school of blue flounder feeding as we went. We were given our lunch boxes as well whilst we waited.

We also got the chance to see some of the other geological formations round the island, all left by previous volcanic action. The rocks were banded in colours, showing sulphurs, iron oxides and ash among other layers.

Eventually the seas had calmed enough to attempt a landing on the beach. This involved two people in wet suits swimming in the water, and two more up to their waists in the surf, assisting the boat as it took us all to the shore in groups of four or six.

We toured the island in three groups. Our group was ably led by Alaister. We all had hard hats and gas masks and the sulphur fumes were so strong we needed the latter quite regularly. This was a bed of pure sulphur, sitting at a temperature of 97 degrees C.

After skirting more sulphur and dangerous layers of sinter we finally had a sight into the main crater. It contained a large lake, green and yellow in colour, bubbling and steaming in the sun. Apparently Aliaster has seen it red and blue on other occasions. It was huge and awesome!

Steam was coming out of numerous vents on the other side of the crater. Whilst we were touring we saw two helicopters land with more groups of tourists, but the area was so large that you couldn't see them after a few moments.

Further round on the island were pools of bubbling mud.

Across the old crater we could see the side walls containing more colourful rock. The two small squares at the top of the cliff are cameras used to monitor activity in the volcano, powered by solar panels.

I said the gas masks were necessary!

Near the beach on which we had landed was the remains of an old sulphur factory. It only operated for 10 years before it became financially uneconomical, and since then the atmosphere on the island has steadily destroyed all the equipment left behind.

Boarding the main boat for the return trip was much easier. The tide had come in further, meaning the inflatable could now approach the remants of the old wharf, and the crew had rigged up a plank to cross from one section to another.

On the way back to the mainland we came across a couple of pods of dolphins who enjoyed playing in the bow wave of the boat. We were told pod sizes of 20 to 30 dolphins are common, but sometimes you can get a super pod of over 1000 dolphins.

 Back on land after a round trip of just over seven hours we said thank you and farewell to the crew before driving back to Rotorua.  

We are back in the same lovely motel we used two nights ago, but Fiona, the new owner, has upgraded us to a large two bedroom apartment in the hope we will get less road noise.  And we have an oven, so have just made and cooked pizzas!