Rotorua
The next day off to another long drive to Rotorua, managed
to arrive at a reasonable time and book a tour to Te Puia home to the major
attractions as well as being a Maori Arts and Craft Institute where Maori
carvers and flax weaver can be observed as they are educating the next
generation to preserve these skills.
Geologically the area is amazing with hot bubbling mud pools and geysers and their Kiwi breeding sanctuary we then returned to town.
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| Rotorua Geyser |
We walked through the Governor’s Garden and watched people
playing crochet in front of the Art Gallery which is sadly closed for
renovations. We walked down to lake and around it’s edge and observed a flying
boat mooring for the night.
The Buried Village is the result of the eruption of the volcano Mount Tarawera on 10th June 1886 rock and lava spread over 15,5000sq.km and buried three villages. The remains of the of Te Wairoa have been excavated, there is an inescapable eerie feeling as one walks past the remnants of buildings froze in time.
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| Buried Village |
Coming back from there we visited the Redwood Forest walking
around theses giant trees make one feel very small.
That night we found an ‘Eat Street’ and ate at Leonardo’s an
Italian Restaurant.
Whakatane
Outlook from accommodation
We eventually arrived in Whakatane our accommodation was in
the Ocean View Holiday Studio a rather windy hilly drive. Magnificent view
overlooking the bay. Getting back into town was easy as there are 87 pedestrian
steps which get you into town, definitely easier than taking the car. We
ventured into town for dinner at the Spice Junction Indian Restaurant.
The next day we walked along the coast and went to the small
museum attached to the library. It was a pleasant day. We discovered a French
restaurant Roquette where we had dinner.
Coromandel
The next day we headed for Coromandel a long winding road
(like just about all of them on the north island) went without a hitch though
we took route 309 which is a very scary unmade winding road, very narrow in
places and a sheer drop on one side. Wandered around after we arrived. The town
is very small and not many choices of places for dinner, we opted for the
Pepper Tree.
Drove to Whitianga for Cathedral Cove excursion, definitely worth it
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| Cathedral Cove |
Dinner at Uma back at Coromandel.
Driving Creek Railway excursion, the next day. Very
interesting a Barry Brickell built a 3kms narrow gauge railway track over 22HA
of hilly scrub covered land. Also, there is a pottery centre and gallery there
as well After a trip on the train, there is a bush walking area.
After lunch we went back to our accommodation for R&R then out again to walk up to the look out. Lazy dinner of fish & chips.
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| Along Driving Creek Railroad |
The next day it was back to Auckland to return our car. We
left early and had a coffee stop at the town of Thames, it looked an
interesting place plus being Saturday there was a market, but we wanted to
return the car on time.
We had 2 nights back at the Avani Apartments. On our last day we breakfasted at Le Chef a little French café around the corner from us. We wandered down to the coast and went to the Maritime Museum which whiled away the morning and returned to our accommodation for a rest. The following day we would be on our way home.
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| Coromandel |
