Judy & Brian Tour Oz: November 3, 2015 Coromandel NZ

We woke to a coolish and overcast day, bit of a disappointment after the cracker we had yesterday, but, I heard that there was a train that runs over the other side of the hills in a place called Coromandel, namesake of the same said hills.

So over we went taking an hour to do the 42k, its pretty hilly and windy and narrow, especially the last 5K where there are heaps 25kph u turns and one that is 15.

Anyhow, we found the place and booked ourselves a rain ride. The story is that this fellow had set himself up as New Zealand's first potter born in NZ. After a while he bought a bigger plot of land up the road, mostly on the mountain side, and mostly because it had a source of clay suitable to do his potting. First of all though he had to dig the stuff out and cart it back down to the road-side house and pottery. Now most of us would have slashed a track and clambered up and down, but no, this fellow builds a 15" gauge railway line for his personal use. Now as he was a potter and open to the public, they soon started pestering him for a ride on the train, and so he extended it a bit and then a bit more and naturally more people wanted a ride. Some 15 years later the penny dropped that it might be a good tourist attraction and so he built a bit more (includes tunnels and bridges and viaducts) and opened his doors. Anyhow as an attraction it went viral and he eventually extended the line right to the top his mountain, where its capped by a station and lookout platform they call ... Eyeful Tower. Now they handle 70,000 passengers a year. He's now 80 odd and retired to do his pottery, painting and planting Kauri trees and has gifted the whole place to the national trust.

Pretty interesting and entertaining couple of hours in a delightful setting, followed by a nice lunch back down in the town.

Once we made it back to Whitianga we decided to spoil ourselves and take a hot spa and massage package at the local Lost Spring spa. Lovely pools of varying temperatures of water followed by n hour of being rubbed and stroked with hot oil. Ah, bliss.