Wednesday 9 February

It had rained in the night and was much cooler, also still a bit drizzly and damp so breakfast was indoors for the first time. However as we had a long drive the change in the weather wasn't a problem. We headed south again back to Auckland before heading over to the Coromandel Peninsular. Fortunately we were able to not only break the journey but to meet up with Gwyneth and John again and have lunch together at a good restaurant in a lovely spot at Takapuna Beach. It was really special meeting friends from Tattingstone such a long way from home!

The drive along the coast road to Coromandel and our next destination at Kuaotonu Beach took much longer than we thought it would. The scenery was simply breathtaking but the winding roads soon lost their appeal after a long drive. For those of you who have driven up the mountain road from Marbella to Ronda in Spain, it makes that seem like a walk in the park!

The main feature of our accommodation in Kuaotunu are the panoramic views of the beach and bay from our room and we have a little deck with table and chairs which is where we are sitting checking our emails and writing this blog. Even at night with the doors closed we can hear the waves.

Thursday, 10 February

Today we set off to do something different again – a ride on the quirky Driving Creek Railway. This is a narrow gauge railway that climbs 2.6 km up the side of a hill to reach the interestingly named “Eyefull Tower” which has commanding views over Coromandel Town and the surrounding islands. On its way to the summit the railway negotiates 3 tunnels, 2 spirals and 5 reversing points. Our friends who are train enthusiasts (you know who you are!) would love it!

After visiting the railway we looked round Coromandel Town, a small former gold mining town with lots of character and named after HMS Coromandel, before taking the 309 road to Whitianga. This proved to be a switchback unmade gravel road where speeds in excess of about 20mph could only be dreamed of. About two weeks ago the North of NZ suffered a tropical storm when 30cm of rain fell in a very short time. The winding roads on the Coramandel peninsular are cut into the side of hills and we have seen many places where the bank gave way during the storm blocking the road. Most of these blockages have been cleared but we came across one place on the 309 where we had to wait for a digger to move out of the way before we could continue on our way.

Our B&B is really quite isolated, so we bought some goodies from Coromandel and Whitianga to take back and eat on our deck, including some smoked fish a local speciality and a bottle of Cooks Beach wine. Writing this is making our stomachs rumble so today's blog will have to be put to bed so we can eat.

After dinner we are going for a walk along the beach, provided we don't drink too much wine with dinner!