Beaches, breakfasts and sun

You may remember, dear reader, that last August Nicky and I had a weekend in Thames on the Coromandel peninsula. We liked it so much we decided we would like to go back for a holiday sometime. You may also remember that we had planned some holiday in February last year, but that Nicky used up all her annual leave taking time off work because of her suspected TIA's. Nicky is a member of the PSA Union, and the PSA own a number of holiday homes which are available at very reasonable rates for PSA members. They have a place in Whitianga, on the east coast of the Coromandel, so back in November last year I made a booking for us. That is where we have been this week, and we have had a wonderful time, so much so that I am now going to bore you with all the necessary details though just a few of the 670+ photos.

Monday was Waitangi Day and therefore a public holiday. We had a quiet day at home doing laundry and getting ready for going away. Claire and Ryan came over for tea and brought us some very nice herb cheese.

Clear blue skies greeted us on Tuesday morning so we breakfasted, packed the car, and headed for our first stop - Pukekohe. There were two reason's for this; one was to visit the library and the other to buy some award winning pies from the local Pak 'n' Save supermarket. One of the targets which Nicky was set at her annual appraisal just after Christmas was to visit three other Auckland libraries in the coming twelve months, hence our fist stop in Pukekohe (library number 1). The library is in a modern community centre and is large and light and airy. One of the factors which contributes to the feeling of openness is that none of the book stacks are high - I could see over them all quite clearly. This gives the borrower extensive views over the whole of the library space which is very pleasing. After Nicky had completed her private tour with a member of staff and we had photographed the cow-sized sheep sculptures, we headed off to the supermarket to buy our pies for lunch.

We ate our very tasty pies on a quiet grassy verge on the outskirts of Thames, after checking out that we still liked our favourite Lockwood show home. We motored on to Whitianga up the east coast of the Coromandel and arrived at our accommodation around 3pm, pleased to be out of the hot car. The unit was clean, tidy and compact, and it didn't take us long to get ourselves organised and sup a swift cup of tea. Next stop was the beach (beach number 1 or "our beach"), which was even closer than I thought - literally a two minute walk across the road and down a grassy path - and what a beach; long and sandy with gorgeous waves and very few people. Little did we know it was to be the first of many that we could describe in that way. As we had travelled east the clear skies had been populated with fluffy clouds, but it was still a warm afternoon. After strolling down the beach into town, wandering round town a little, and strolling back (a wander of about three hours) we were ready to eat and re-hydrate when we got back to the PSA holiday home. We had a quiet evening in and an early night.

We had hoped to see the sunrise on Wednesday morning but didn't wake as early as we expected and were not on our beach until 7am. It was a wonderful morning so we decided to walk down the beach to the wharf (about 40 minutes). When we got there we spotted a café (The Landing Café) and decided we had only had a light breakfast before setting out and it was a while back and we had walked a lot so a second breakfast was probably a very good idea. It was. I had eggs Benedict with bacon and Nicky had French toast with fresh fruit. We then drank our tea and coffee, read the newspaper, and watched the people around the wharf start their days. I couldn't help but think if we had lived in Whitianga and my father had been able to visit that this is how he would have enjoyed starting each day - walking down the beach and reading the paper and drinking coffee by the wharf. I am sorry he didn't get the chance.

Nicky had forgotten her sun hat, so we raided the downtown stores and procured a new one. After walking home back along the beach and putting together a picnic lunch (literally, until I told Nicky we had packed Glad Wrap, aka cling film), we headed across the peninsula to Coromandel Town. 3kms north of the town is the Driving Creek Railway and pottery. An incredible man by the name of Barry Brickell started a pottery back in the 1970's. In order to get clay for his work, he built a railway up the hill through the bush. People started to ask for rides on his railway, and 32 years of building 2.6km of narrow gauge track, 3 tunnels, 2 spirals and 5 reversing points have made this one of New Zealand's biggest tourist attractions, carrying over 1 million passengers since it opened. The terminus is the Eyefull tower, which affords the visitor with spectacular views across the Coromandel. The pottery and glass blowing works are also fully operational, as is forest restoration and tree planting. It was a very enjoyable and informative experience.

After our train ride we had a wander round Coromandel Town, enjoyed a local artists painting exhibition, and bought some smoked salmon pate from the Coromandel Smoked Fish Company. We also called into the library (library number 2), which was a PROPER library, ie: it had a card catalogue and cards in the books and each of the borrowers have a little card wallet that the book cards are put in!!!! Like libraries used to be. It even smelt right. Brilliant. We broke the journey home with a wander along the beach at Kuaotunu (beach number 2) and got back not quite ready for an evening meal. So, we had fruit cake, cheese and a pot of tea before walking down our beach again and into town to get a takeaway to eat on the beach. We got two hoki, two sausages, two squid rings and $2 of chips for $10, all wrapped up in REAL newspaper. Apart from the sausages it was great, and met Nicky's desires for fish and chips on the beach. We didn't rush home to watch the Downton Abby Christmas special part 2 because the TV in the PSA unit couldn't get Prime (the channel which screens Downton here), so we had to make do with the glorious views on our beach, and then the audio book on Nicky's iPad which we had started in the car.

Thursday morning was a real late start - we didn't start our walk down our beach to the Landing Café until quarter to nine, which made breakfast of the special for me and a fish pie for Nicky even more welcome. Tea, coffee and newspaper followed again, as we needed to gather our strength for a major hike to our destination for the day - a vineyard. The weather was a little grey, but fine. This didn't last. Even before we caught the ferry across the harbour, the sky was blue, the clouds fluffy, and the mercury rising (there is a pun in there if you know Whitianga is in Mercury Bay). We arrived in Ferry Landing, the other side of the harbour, about five minutes later, disembarked and walked up the hill to downtown Ferry Landing. The local store is a "sell everything" type, and is just across the road from the library (library number 3) and cemetery.

Just over the top of the hill we saw a path - leading to a beach. This turned out to be Front Beach (beach number 3). More gorgeous sand, sea, and few people. We continued walking east passed Flaxmill Bay (beach number 4), enjoying the scenery, the architecture of the houses and the sunshine. We passed the settlement of Cooks Beach and continued on to our destination - the Mercury Bay Estate. It was just about one in the afternoon when we got there, an ideal time for lunch. The estate produces nine wines (four whites, four reds and a rosé). They do a tasting tray for four wines for $10, so Nicky and I each chose four different wines, and a couple of platters of bread, cheese, prawns and chutneys. For two hours we drank, nibbled, chatted, drank some more, conversed with the other diners, nibbled, bought a glass of the ninth wine to complete the set, drank some more, enjoyed the shade and sun, and were captivated by the view. It was wonderful, blissful, relaxing and peaceful. The wine and food were excellent, and it was the best wine tasting experience we have ever had. We will strongly recommend a visit for lunch to all our visitors from now on. It was a memorable experience and a highlight of our holiday.

We had sobered up a little by the time we left and walked across to Cooks Beach. We walked through the residential areas to the beach (beach number 5), which complied with our usual description. We pitched camp, and because the beach was very quiet I was able to skinny dip and then dry off naked in the sun. Wonderful. We walked to the "town centre" as the day started to cool down to find The Frying Scotsman Fish and Chip shop, but discovered it was closed on Thursdays. No matter, we had butties with us which we ate later. We had a gentle walk back to Ferry Landing as the sun sank and by the time we got to our beach the sunset was magical. Then, we noticed a large red ball appearing from the sea, as the the moon rose. This was just awesome. It was dark by the time we got back to our unit, and we headed straight for showers and bed. In total we had walked about 12kms, had a wonderful day, and not used the car once.

We didn't seem to sleep very well on Thursday night, in spite of all our exercise during the day, so we woke on Friday morning in time to get down to our beach before the sun rose. We sat for over an hour having our breath taken away but the light and colour display that the sun and clouds put on for us. The sunrise completed the best 24 hours of the holiday.

After watching the sunrise the obvious thing to do was to walk down the beach to Landings again for breakfast, special with extra toasted fruit bread for me and eggs Benedict with salmon for Nicky. Tea, coffee and newspaper followed, of course. Then we needed to do some urgent shopping; stamps, sun block, and use of the free WiFi at the library so that Nicky could pick up her email and Archers podcast (I hadn't been able to lock in to a good 2 Degrees signal). Nicky had a personal tour of this library too (library number 4). We walked back to our unit via our beach and picked up the car, drove back into town and bought pies for lunch from The Landing Café and toms and fruit from the organic market in Monk Street. Our plan was to drive to the Mercury Bay Estate to buy some of the wine we had enjoyed so much the previous day, and then onto Cathedral Cove via Hahei. Cathedral Cove is famous for its rock formations which have appeared in many films (eg: Prince Caspian).

We got to the vineyard OK and bought our wine, and then we made it to Hahei and discovered another beach which met the usual description (beach number 6) though it was quite busy for a NZ beach. And then we just stopped. Inertia struck. Even though we had been having great weather since getting up on Tuesday morning, it now seemed to go up a gear and the sun was very strong. We even took to the shade of the trees at the edge of the beach. We relaxed awhile. Still didn't feel like moving. Had a swim in the clear blue and green water of the sea. Splashed about in the surf. Talked to some locals. Still didn't feel like leaving. We gave up on thoughts of going to Cathedral Cove and just stayed on the beach until the sun started to cool. We drove home, had soup and toast and fruit cake and cheese and watched some telly before zedding.

We woke on Saturday morning in full knowledge that it was our last day. We packed our stuff, squeezed it into the car, cleaned the unit and drove down to the wharf and yes, you guessed it dear reader, had breakfast at The Landing Café. I was back on eggs Benedict with bacon and fruit bread toast, Nicky on French toast. As ever, tea, coffee and newspaper followed. We walked into town to the Saturday craft market and bought a few goodies, before reluctantly leaving a small rural town in which we have felt very happy and safe and welcomed.

We had decided to drive home down the west coast, via beach called New Chums which had been recommended. We didn't get to New Chums beach because it was a long walk round a rocky outcrop at the end of Whangapoua beach (beach number 7), and we had enjoyed walking the length of Whangapoua beach so much (it met our usual description) that we felt replete and decided to motor on after eating our lunch.

The weather was again very hot, and we only stopped in Coromandel Town long enough to buy some smoked scallops and smoked orange roughy from the Coromandel Smoked Fish Company. We were still enjoying the audio book in the car, but the air conditioning seems to have given up so it was very hot driving down the coast road. Even thought the scenery was wonderful, by the time we stopped at the park opposite the Waiomu café, we were both getting to the point where we just wanted to get the journey over.

We got back in the car and only stopped to changed drivers before getting home around six. After unpacking the car and enjoying the smoked fish for tea, we felt a little deflated. We have really enjoyed our few days away, the beaches, the breakfasts, the weather, and for one of us, the libraries. We found Whitianga a very special place and plan to return, hopefully sooner rather than later.

Today has been a day of post holiday sorting, with messages and emails and laundry. Nicky has been to church and for a lunch with her prison outreach group. I have spent most of the day going through the photos and writing this, while running in and out to the washing line as the weather has turned increasingly wet as the day has progressed.

Late news: Warwick and Helen, friends of Nicky's, recorded Downton Abbey for her and brought it up on DVD this evening. It has been duly watched.

I think that is enough for now.

Take care, Rick