We woke to a muted sunrise looking out over Colville Bay and Hauraki Gulf.

A beautiful pink sunrise.

We got the binoculars out to view the islands and as the sun broke through the clouds we discovered that we could see the SkyTower in Auckland! It is in the distance as you look straight through the gap between the two islands in the center of the photo! We enjoyed breakfast on the deck and packed up to drive north to the end of the road at Port Jackson.

A lot of the drive was along the waterfront with huge Pohutuwaka trees growing along the beach. Several were in bloom with crimson puffs of blossoms! (Not visible in this photo though) You can see the road winding along the distant bluffs.

At Port Jackson (just a few farmsteads) we found that the road continued another 7km to Fletcher Bay, so of course we went!

Approaching Fletcher Bay from the single lane winding road over the hills! Square Top Island sits off the point.

There is a DOC (Dept. of Conservation) campground, and a welcome rest to stretch our legs. A storm damaged concrete building sits at the edge of the beach, built for what use I don’t know.

A vantage point for a view of the beach.

Walking the beach was relaxing. I even found beach glass.

We returned along the winding road, admiring the views and avoiding the campers and cars coming towards us.

A wide spot to stop with fantastic views!

We returned almost to Colville (where we got coffees on our way out to the end of the road) and took the Port Charles road to traverse the peninsula to the end of the road at Port Charles. We ascended the Moehau Range (avoiding the grader, roller and water truck that were working on the road) and stopped to overlook the forest at the summit.

The Kiwi Lookout at the summit. It is apparently “one of the best places to hear kiwi in NZ” according to the signage. You have to be there at night though!

Again, we went a few km past Port Charles to a lovely beach on Port Charles Bay.We climbed back over the mountain(?)range and returned to the town of Coromandel, past the Driving Creek Railway! What a curvy ascent & descent, rivals anything we’ve done in the US! We found a boat yard and Robert rigged up a hose to spray off as much of the mud and gravel from the car as we could! We then traveled the 45 km to our B&B for the night in Whitianga where we grilled some veggies and fish we picked up at the grocery in town.

Another beautiful sunset!

We started out early on our road trip to explore the Coromandel Peninsula, the piece of land between Hauraki Gulf where Auckland sits and Bay of Plenty where we are now based. We got through the morning rush hour in Tauranga and through the suburbs, crossing the base of the peninsula through the beautiful Karangahake Gorge. We headed up to Thames (named so by Captain James Cook in 1769 because it was the first large river he had seen in the country, the river Waihou) and then inland to almost the middle of the large Coromandel Forest Park.

We came to hike a little bit of the many trails in the Forest and to see this suspension bridge!

We met a group of teenagers on the bridge, they kindly stopped to let us over, then engaged us in conversation, asking where we were from and how we like NZ. They had spent a day and night hiking and camping in the Forest and were very friendly and outgoing. They told us of a waterfall we could see just off the trail a few hundred meters past the bridge.

Billy Goat Falls, in the distance. Unfortunately Billy Goat Track, from which you get closer views, is closed now.

The history of the area is (as usual) tragic after Europeans arrived. The mighty Kauri forests that were here for millennia were logged off in less than 100 years.

The green arrow points to the waterfall. It is amazing that so much effort and expense was utilized to exploit and deplete a resource in only 60 years!

History of the Kauri Forest of the Coromandel can be found HERE.

We left the Forest and headed to the Beach, the west coast of the Coromandel peninsula, through Thames and north to the town of Coromandel.

The red traces our trip from the forest to the coast.

We traveled along the waterfront with views across the Firth of Thames.

Then went above the water through pastures. You can see a small ribbon of the road in the lower right of this photo.

Our destination was the Driving Creek Railway, a tourist destination with purpose! Built by  conservationist/potter Barry Brickell in 1973 it opened to the public in 1990.

The ‘railway station’ is in the midst of the pottery studio with hand built kilns of brick and work studios.

We joined the 2 dozen or so other travelers on the train and headed up the steep slopes of the property. Brickell utilized ‘reversing track’ to facilitate the climb, switchbacks basically, so the driver pulls into the reverse track, moves to the other end of the train, switches the track and drives up the next section.

Approaching the reversing track.

3 tunnels were built by hand also! This is the most impressive!

Brickell rehabilitated the steep rangeland by planting thousands of native trees.

He reminded me of Don Kerr of The High Desert Museum, he even looks a little like him, driven and focused on their passion in life. Both have left impressive legacies!

We enjoyed our train ride, the fabulous views from the ‘Eye-Full Tower’, walked around the wildlife sanctuary and continued to our B&B outside Colville. We had a wonderful evening, grilled some lamb chops and vegetables and toasted to the wonderful sunset view!

Threatening rain and humid today. We decided to take a walk almost to Pukehina Beach. Ten days ago we drove to Pukehina Beach, almost 25km (15.5 miles) and had a nice walk, collecting shells. Today we walked 3km (about 2 miles) and looked over at the Beach across the estuary. It was a very pleasant walk, it was nice to be out in the breeze!

Starting down the hill there are nasturtiums growing wild! Climbing up the trunk of a tree fern!

We reached the end of the road at the Holiday Park. We went into the office/store and got ice cream bars to cool off. Love the jandals on the fence!

At the end of the Holiday Park is a nice spot to sit and look at the bay and across to Pukehina Beach. We could hear the waves crashing on the other side of the peninsula, but it was calm in the bay. There were even some stand-up paddle boarders in the bay.

At the beginning of the Holiday Park there are permanent trailers with the million dollar view of the bar where the ocean waves enter the bay.

We hiked up the road, sweating from the humidity, back to the Bach to start packing for our 3 day road trip tomorrow. It started raining so Robert set up the grill under cover at the front of the Bach and we had delicious lamb cheeseburger salad with grilled broccoli, mushrooms & onions, garnished with nasturtiums I picked on the way home!

Bright, colorful & delicious!

More rain overnight, more rain this morning! No wonder it’s so green here! We did more work on the computer.  Then we got a local call, tickets are available for the matinee performance of “Footrot Flats” today! Yay! We had an hour to get cleaned up and go! It was pouring rain, and we finally had something to do, inside!It is a local Repertory Society in a small building next to a community athletic field.

The entryway was decorated with depictions of the cartoon characters.

The small stage was in the center, with the audience on either side. Only 75 allowed. It was a small space, but fit the over one dozen characters!

It was a blast! So funny, and so many references to sex, both the animal breeding part of farm life, and the interactions between Wal’ Footrot (the farmer) and his girlfriend Cheeky Hobson (the local hair stylist). And the animals! The dogs, sheep, pigs and the barnyard cat! At the end of the play we perused the posters of many of the plays the Repertory Society has put on in its 70 year history! This is one I’d like to have seen!

Afterwards we headed to a local brewery, The Packhouse -Lumberjack Brewing, for a delicious pizza with melt-in-your-mouth braised lamb and some excellent Hazy IPA!

The back covered patio where we ate & drank with the rain pouring down, talking with locals and the chef as he grilled wonderful smelling steaks!

The predicted rain finally came, all day long! We spent the time planning another 3 day trip. This time to the Coromandel peninsula which we skipped past on the way from Bay of Islands to Bay of Plenty. We’ll head out on Tuesday, Nov. 21 and return Thurs. Nov. 23. One night near Colville on the west side of the peninsula, and one night near Whitianga on the east side, near hot sand beach! Robert also found a scenic train ride we booked, Driving Creek Railway Tours. I found a local Repertory Theater in Te Puke, putting on a show called “Footrot Flats”, a musical based on a cartoon strip that ran in NZ and Australian papers from 1976 to 1995. It has rave reviews, but was all sold out. I put our names in on a waiting list for the next 3 days to see if we can score some tickets. I looked up the website for the cartoon and it’s pretty funny, here’s the link; Footrot Flats. A great way to learn some Kiwi lingo!

It reminds me of ‘Shaun the Sheep’, our favorite stop motion animation, with anthropomorphic farm animals, and blundering human farmers!