THE COROMANDEL - WEST COAST

The Coromandel Peninsula is the bit that sticks out of the top of North Island to the east of Auckland and the big pointy finger that is Northland. The spine of the Coromandel is densely forested and mountainous and narrow winding roads trace the outline of the coast with its tiny islands. Some of the best beaches and scenery in the north can be found here and it´s little wonder that they escape here in droves from Auckland for the weekend and holidays.

There is a rich gold-mining history here and Coromandel Town where we based ourselves for a week was once a thriving town of more than ten thousand when gold was discovered in them hills. Wages were fabulously high for the day - miners would have been paid 3 pounds a week and the cost of a house in the area averaged at 8 pounds. These days the population is down to a sleepier one thousand and something with a thriving tourist industry with paua, pacific oysters and green-lipped mussels being farmed on old shipwrecks off the coast.

Kauri tree logging was big business on the peninsula for more than 60 years. This beautiful timber was shipped as far as San Francisco for construction and ship building and after Kauri on the coast got scarce, the loggers moved deeper into the bush for timber and built Kauri dams, known as Driving Creeks that used water power to propel the huge logs down to the sea. By the 1930´s the industry had died after virtually none of these magnificent centuries-old trees remained.

We were picked up from the hostel in the pouring rain by the shuttle bus taking us to the start of the Coromandel Coastal Walkway. Peter, our guide, had lived at Aberystwyth for a summer many years ago and recalled such joyous occasions as listening to the town choir singing at the castle on a Sunday night and enjoying a pint on the way home every night from his job as a brickie´s labourer (just the one mind). On the 65km drive to Fletcher Bay and the start of the walkway, the sun came out as Peter told us the tale of an old friend who used to drive wagons along the stretch of road and would quite often have a long wait before being able to return to his depot. His favourite pastime would be propping up road-kill possums with bits of stick, then lodging empty cans between their claws so they looked as if they were just sat on the side of the road enjoying a beer!

The coastal walk was lovely. Pointed in the right direction, off we went on our way to Stony Bay about 10k along the coast where Peter would be waiting to serve afternoon tea about four hours later. The walk started across hilly farmland where the track passed Sugar Loaf Rock and the Pinnacles then into dense bush past waterfalls and caves and lookouts over the trees down to the water. We took side tracks down to three tiny rocky coves along the way and spotted Peter a couple of kilometers from the end, getting tea and muffins ready on the beach. We even got a certificate and a book on the history of the area, written as a community project, for our efforts.

Driving Creek Railway is extraordiary. Each and every length of rail has been bent, shaped and laid by a potter of international fame who just wanted to use the railway as a means of transporting clay from the hillsides of the section he bought a few decades ago for a few dollars. Feats of engineering by this brilliant man who can´t abide sleeves (he cuts them off every shirt he owns as they just get dirty and in the way) takes the train up a track of steep grades, across four trestle bridges, around two spirals, reversing into two double switchbacks and through two tunnels before it finishes at the ´Eyefull Tower´ with superb views of Coromandel Town and the coastline beyond. The track passes through bush and an area of recently planted Kauri trees and pots, sculptures and other strange shapes appear in the undergrowth from time to time. We had been warmly greeted at the ticket ofice when we arrived by a lady who said she´d been expecting us. She was Peter´s wife from the previous day on the coastal walk, who had told her to keep an ear out for the accents!

I am now going to dob-in the BBC. Remember the fly-on-the-wall series Castaway, set on a ´deserted island in the Pacific´? Well Great Barrier Island is the largest island in the Hauraki Gulf just off Auckland. It has a population of 1000 and is easily accessible by boat or plane. It has a wide range of accommodation from which to choose, from hostels to luxury apartments, and the film crew were probably in a hotel room so close to the camp that the could hear the arguments over who stole the last blob of ketchup or sheet of toilet paper. Demand a refund on your licence fees I say.