Days 6 to 9 - Its NOT grim up North

We commenced our first full day on Waiheke with our lovely continental breakfast in the company of our host overlooking Rocky Bay. Ideal preparation for the task of revving the Sunny up the steep narrow driveway! Waiheke is very hilly and so many junctions require a lot of gas. Although on our approach to Garden Party Pottery, one particularly strong rev of the engine produced a rather disconcerting burning smell! We acquired some delightful souvenirs, which we hope will survive the remainder of our travels.

An example of the wares at the Garden Party Pottery

Our next stop was a winery called “Wild on Waiheke”. On this occasion we were more interested in sampling some real ale, cider and ginger beer that they also produce on site – we were suitably impressed to make a purchase for consumption later in our trip.  

Then came our first experience of unmade roads as we sought out the Stony Batter Reserve on the more isolated eastern side of the island. The rear of the Sunny and its tyres became coated in red dust as we bumped along! Stony Batter is home to three WWII gun emplacements, which were never fired in anger. The guns have gone, but the tunnels and some of the other equipment remains and so we were able to explore both the eerie underground, courtesy of flashlight, and steep overground to enjoy more scenic coastal views. Sarah wasn’t too keen on the former and was glad to get back out into the daylight after stumbling around in the all-encompassing darkness.

Demonstrating the small World that we live in, the lady at the ‘checkpoint’ had a family connection with North Leigh in Oxfordshire. There were sheep roaming around, usually keeping their distance, however, an unexpected pleasure for Sarah was the opportunity to feed a young lamb that had been orphaned and taken in by the family – the quickest we had ever seen a bottle of milk emptied!

Some more dirt track took us to the Man O’ War winery in a lovely discreet setting overlooking a small bay. This time Sarah sampled a rose wine, whereas Paul opted for more of that ginger beer! Another local connection emerged with the barmaid being familiar with the Hook Norton Brewery in North Oxfordshire. 

We backtracked to reconnect with civilisation and a stroll along Onetangi beach after some warming refreshment in the form of scones and hot chocolate.

In the evening we travelled to the far west of the island to the Mudbrick winery. Their restaurant is the biggest crowd-puller on the island, with an estimated 25,000 visitors a year. We chose the taster menu, which meant having to munch our way through no fewer than seven courses! Our previous experiences of posh food is that whilst well-presented there is not enough of it, however, this is not a criticism that could be leveled here – by the end we were both extremely bloated! Our highlight was the sweet passionfruit soup that formed course 6.

Te Matukuk Bay Oysters

Atlantic King Scallops, Katafi Prawns

Refresher

Alpine Merino Lamp Rump, Peanuts, Golden Kumara, Grape & Shallot Vinaigrette

Chilled Passionfruit soup

'Black Forest' dessert - Cherries, Valrhona Chocolate, Eau d'vie

We were fortunate to enjoy a relaxed start to Wednesday, smoking hairdryer excepted! After another tasty breakfast, this time outside, we made our way down to the rocky shore next to beach hut to take in some sea air. There was also time for a final dip in the spa, before sadly we had to leave our island paradise to catch the ferry back to the mainland.

The hustle and bustle of Auckland suburbia gradually dissolved into scarcely populated countryside as we progressed along one of the few state motorways. After a flat plain and a dead straight road, we encountered the imposing landscape of the Coromandel range of hills. This ‘direct’ route to Cook’s Beach was transformed into a seemingly never-ending series of hairpin bends, with some delightful scenery that alas only the non-driver was able to enjoy. It appears that the NZ approach to preventing vehicles from disappearing down sheer drops is to display an intermittent bollard or two. This also seems to act as a green light for some inexcusably reckless driving from roger, thus resulting in the appointed cameraperson for this stage of our trip clinging on for dear life instead of taking any photographs!

We arrived at our next destination, Mussel Bed B&B, in the early evening. There were three surprises in store for us. A pleasant bottle of champagne from our host and a less pleasant experience of a bird flying into our apartment and finally a warning of what to do in the (unlikely) event of a tsunami alarm being sounded! 

With stomachs rumbling, there was no time to dwell on this and we headed to the highly recommended Eggsentric café/restaurant, mercifully less than 5 minutes’ drive.  The food was again of very high quality and with a normal number of courses we avoided any repeat bloatedness. We both chose the ‘Ocean Lovers’ dish for our main – snapper with scallops, prawns and calamari served with a green Thai curry broth on a lemon risotto cake and accompanied with a fresh garden salad – yummy! A ‘doppelganger’ moment ensued when another tourist appeared wearing exactly the same fleece as Paul!

The next morning we ventured down the road for a walk around the Shakespeare Cliff reserve. We did the loop route, taking in Flaxmill Bay, Lonely Bay and finally heading back to the B&B via Cooks Beach. A vantage point at the top of the cliff provided an excellent panorama of the headland and Lonely Bay in particular was extremely picturesque – although we are discovering that is not uncommon in these parts! We ventured down to Lonely Bay for a brief paddle and to watch the gannets ‘dive bombing’ for fish in the ocean. On the home straight back in Cook’s Beach we discovered a couple of walkways, which doubled up as “Tsunami escape routes” to the higher ground to the West!

Flaxmill Bay

Shakespeares Cliff

Looking down onto Lonely Bay and Cooks Beach

Pathway to Lonely Bay

Cooks Stream

However, our afternoon excursion was to be back down at sea level in the form of Sea Kayaking at Hahei, a few kilometres along the coast. This would be our first guided tour and it was one that we found really rewarding. After a brief introduction and hearing aid safely stowed away in the dry bag, we were off on a loop of the bay through Te Whanganui a Hei marine reserve, avoiding the rocky outcrops along the way. Cliffs weathered by waves and salt crystals loomed overhead. The kayaks proved very stable even with the waves crashing over us, although there were some navigational difficulties leading to a close encounter with the rock face when emerging from one particular sea cave!  The navigator claims he couldn’t see where he was going due to continually being splashed in the face – hmmm! Some more sterling paddling later, we stopped halfway through for a reviving hot chocolate at Cathedral Cove, one of NZ’s most photographed landmarks and so-called because of the huge naturally formed archway that links the two beaches. Duly refreshed and with the camera battery on its last legs, we headed back into the reserve to paddle homeward to Hahei against the wind.

Cathedral Cove

Our trusty vessels!

The afternoon’s exertions had worked up quite an appetite. What better way to satisfy this than with fish ‘n’ chips, which we enjoyed in the early evening sunshine sat on a log on an almost deserted Cook’s Beach, save for a pair of Dottrels and a lone Oystercatcher. Our fish of choice was a Hoki, similar in taste and texture to Cod. 

In spite of the approaching dusk, we then travelled to a more heavily populated beach – the famous Hot Water Beach. By the time we arrived, excavations had commenced to form man-made sand-pools to capture the hot water emerging from the springs at low tide. It seems that the knack is to also supply the pool with some cold sea water otherwise you get scalded!

Paul hard at work!

For Friday, rather than drive straight to our next destination, Rotorua, we decided to take the scenic route out of the Coromandel peninsula along the Pacific Coast Highway. We stopped briefly at Whitianga to refuel both the car (about £1/litre over here) and ourselves and then headed in search of New Chums Beach, pausing at other isolated bays along the way.

Whangapoua beach - New Chums is over the hill but we were running out of time!

After an encounter with a logging lorry on another of those very twisty roads, we arrived at Coromandel Town on the Western side of the peninsula. This gave us the chance to stretch our legs, buy some souvenirs and eat a pie under the envious gaze of a black-backed gull!

Following the logging lorry

Sarah's nickname is La La, so a picture was necessary!

We detoured along the unmade 309 road in search of a Kauri (one of NZ's native trees) plantation, which we later discovered we missed by 0.7 of a kilometre - however, instead we discovered the beautiful Waiau Falls. 

Back on the main highway, we found that the western stretch genuinely hugged the coastline, affording us views back across the Hauraki Gulf with the silhouette of Waiheke in the distance. 

The route then turned inland and generally straighter, at which point we realised we had to get a move on in order to make it to Rotorua before dark. Barrelling down State Highway 5 on our approach in, there was a strange smell in the car - but for once it wasn’t anything to do with Paul!