The Coromandel Peninsula

Coromandel First Day

Seems I can’t sleep in past 5 but it gives me time to work on photo’s and write.  I am only one day and 4 hours ahead of  Edmonton time so the adjustment should be easy. It was a great day starting with the catamaran ferry trip over to the Coromandale.  

Auckland has a few old buildings like the Ferry Terminal on the left but most are new and modern.  Choosing a flag is a big issue in NZ.  A referendum was held and a decision will be made later in the spring. A split between those wanting to keep the union jack and the rest.

This is the ship/ferry terminal.  The taxi driver says they get about 3 big tour ships a month in season.  I thought it would be more.

This is their cargo area, the captain was proud of how many ton's they put through a year. I think Vancouver probably does that in a week but for 4.5 million people it is a lot.

This photo shows the downtown of Auckland but the suburbs went on along the shoreline for miles.

A beautiful part of the entrance to the Coromandale

I think this is a New Zealand Christmas tree.  It is covered in red flowers in December. 

On the map it looks like a straight across route  across the bay but there are a lot of islands, similar to the west coast and we made unscheduled stops to drop off and pick up passengers along the way.  Then the straight passage across the firth to a beautifully protected little cove where the ferry dropped us off.  It wasn’t in the town of Coromandele  Besides the small boat dock there were just a few houses with gardens in full bloom,  We schlepped our luggage up the little hill, everything calm and restful until we got to the parking lot where we were to be sorted out.   There were only about 40-50 of us but a lot of nervous nellies who needed to be reassured about where they were going before they would get on a bus.  The drive into town was lovely, lots of mussel farms along the way and lots of signs for fishing charters.  When I saw how small Coromandale was and all the things I could do out of town I signed up for a tour of the Kauri Forest preserve for the afternoon.

The town itself is picturesque, no mall’s. It is like Hawaii, tropical flowers and big magnolia trees in bloom.  My motel is also small and didn’t look like much from the outside but the garden is lovely.  Inside the rooms are all remodeled and my balcony looks over a park and the bay and hills beyond. I just had time to eat, there is a new kitchenette, then walk back to town.  I  stopped at a community centre that was having a show of local artists several of whom were really good. I found out this is an artsy as well as outdoorsy community, 

The view from my room

A magnolia tree the blooms at least 15cm across. The sculpture is part of the town art scene

Lots of wall art in town too

I just got back from a trip to a Kauri forest nature preserve. Our guide Sarni was great, she is the one who also organized all my tours and transportation here. I think I lucked out on getting such a high quality connection. She told us this northern part of the island used to be covered in Kauri forests some trees were 6,000 years old, 25 meters high and 8 meters in diameter.  They were all cut down and used here or shipped back to England for masts and construction etc. Once gold was discovered almost all that were left were clear cut.  They were down to 1% of the forest then .5% before work to support reforestation started. Kauri were a big part of the Maori’s  spirituality, the gods of the forest, and very upsetting to their whole culture. The trouble is there is now a Kauri wasting disease that they estimate 20% are dying of. There are huge efforts to stop the spread, starting at the airport and on the ferry boats to clean shoes if people have been anywhere in a forest.  Going in and out of the preserve you have to clean your shoes. This is probably more than you want to hear but it is heartbreaking, they were even older than the redwoods.  Everyone seems pretty environmental here.  Not just lip service but part of everyday life.  I think being on an island there is a sense of finiteness and lived experience of the irreparable damage that has been done to such a beautiful place. Big money is being spent to set up wild life island refuges so that endangered species can multiply without introduced predators.  We can’t bring in any kinds of food or biological things that could reproduce into the country. Anyway that is the lecture for today. 

These Kauri's are 6-700 years old a few that missed being logged

This Kauri is at least 800 years old

This is a three year old Kauri it is about 10cm tall.  

This plant is about 12 feet tall.  The top is very tasty.

The ferns are huge, Jurassic park like, and grow everywhere. 

There are a lot of waterfalls and this was special.

I got some 'take away' fish and chips.  On the way I saw a sign for a charter fishing company called Fish and Tits, and the charter boat at the motel says 'Fish and Chicks' not much PC here.  I am sitting on my balcony watching a Dad gently walking back and forth with, what looks like a 4 month old, baby singing that song about 'green alligators and long necked geese'.  Its very sweet and I don't think he knows an old grannie is watching him.  

 It was so  peaceful and quiet last night,  I forgot to lock the doors.

The staircase to my room

My balcony and the garden.