Eleven – From Hawkes Bay to Coromandel and Home
We left Picton Harbour and the South Island as the sun was rising above the surrounding hills. Both Jane and I were feeling a little sad to be leaving the island because it holds so many good memories for us. Memories that have taken 10 years to build up. But, we put a brave face on it and stood on the top deck watching the glorious Queen Charlotte Sound slip quietly by.
Looking over the side with us was a New Zealand chap with whom we fell into conversation. A conversation which, as it turned out, lasted the whole of the 3+ hour journey. He told us that his first profession was that of a glazier and one of his memorable jobs was to re-lead the glass panels on the lighthouse located on Stephen’s Island which is in the outermost reaches of Marlborough Sound. It’s a wildlife haven and, when he visited, there were thousands of Tuatara – the sole survivor of a group of reptiles which disappeared from the rest of the world 60 million years ago – and which now only exist in a few places in New Zealand other than in zoos and wildlife collections.
We spent the whole of the rest of the trip chatting with him; swapping travellers tales, talking politics, talking about Maori/White tensions, talking about classic car ownership. Tales, opinions, advice, history, quips and death. It turned out that the glazier was now a grief counsellor and a more understanding, compassionate and gentle man you couldn’t hope to meet.
Before we knew it we were approaching our berth in Wellington Harbour. We never asked our companion his name nor he ours. But sometimes all we need to know about someone is their humanity. Sometimes, being strangers and remaining strangers is enough.
We left Wellington harbour in an ebullient mood, calling in at Petone Beach for a quick lunch. We were heading towards the Hawke’s Bay area on the east coast of the north island and could have made the 4 hour journey quite easily but we had decided to break our journey half way along. Driving in New Zealand is easy compared to the UK but the light here is so intense that driving in the afternoon is really, really tiring so we try not to do too much of it.
The route up SH2 is quite a pretty one once you get past Upper Hutt and are out of the Wellington commuter belt. The section between Upper Hutt and Featherstone ascends the Rimutaka Range and is quite a spectacular drive and at Rimutaka Crossing you get great views looking south towards Wellington and east towards the coast.
We passed through Carterton and Masterton, up over Mount Bruce and, after a few hours, reached Dannevirke. This area of New Zealand was settled by Danish, Norwegian and Swedish settlers in the late 1800s. Dannevirke is named after an extensive Viking Age fortification line in Denmark.
We had hired a small unit rental attached to a house, though when I say small it had all the facilities of a larger house, including use of the swimming pool should we wish it! There was even a decent hi-fi system I could Bluetooth into so we had a very relaxing evening.
From Dannevirke it was only a few hours to our next property a few miles out of Havelock North. We had a large house on farmland with bifold doors we could open and stare at the view. And then slap away at the blackfly trying to make a meal of us! It was a perfect location for us – out in the countryside so very quiet but close to Havelock, Hastings and Napier.
We had decided to stay 4 nights in the Hawkes Bay area and then 4 nights further north as we were getting tired of packing and unpacking our clothes and gear. It’s great travelling around New Zealand but after 7 weeks you do want to stay put for a while.
We set out to discover if we could walk towards the Gannet Colony at Cape Kidnappers by going along the beach from Clifton. But you can only do this at certain times of the day otherwise you run the risk of getting cut off by the tide. However, the tide was obviously too high so instead we wandered over a small wildlife reserve in Te Awanga. It was by the side of a busy road but we discovered it was alive with copper butterflies, so spent a happy half-hour photographing them.
We also discovered a minor road which took us to Ocean Beach. Set in a very wide bay this turned out to rival Surat Bay in the Catlins for its wide open skies. There were no sea lions, though, just lots of families enjoying the weather and the surf.
In the evening we drove to Napier to see how much it had changed in the years since we have been there. The answer is that, at least in the centre, it wasn’t much different. Still the iconic 1930s art deco buildings and waterfront. The Masonic Hotel has been a stalwart of Napier for nearly a century and it was here that we chose to eat a rather delightful meal, outside in the sunshine and with the temperature at 27C. Can’t be bad for mid January!
The highest mountain hereabouts is Te Mata Peak and we got up early the next morning to make the grand circuit. This winds up through Redwood Forests and glacial valleys via the narrow and ever so slightly vertigo inducing ‘Goat Track’ to reach the summit, where you find you could have driven up on a road. But it wouldn’t have been such fun or sweat inducing.
The views from the summit are quite something, especially down into the Tuki Tuki Valley which is where our AirBnB house was located. Tuki Tuki is a Māori name meaning ‘smash smash’ and refers to the rapids which can be found just upstream from the Craggy Range winery.
Seeing the winery down in the valley we just had to go and visit it for a wine tasting. This is a posh winery, where, just a few weeks previously, Jacinda Ardern, former prime minister of New Zealand, chose to get married. We were not surprised as it’s a pretty special place. It’s named after the peaks which surround it and they are pretty craggy, you have to admit.
The grounds of the winery are stunning, with a wonderful pond, large sculptures cast in bronze and a fantastic vegetable garden. This place keeps a very high class restaurant and whilst we didn’t eat there we did ask the head gardener if we could just pick a few stalks of fresh basil to go with our pasta meal that evening. She was very happy for us to help ourselves.
And we also helped ourselves to a bottle of wine to go with the pasta, though this time we had to pay for it! You can find Craggy Range in Majestic in the UK. But not the stuff we bought. This was of a better quality and not outrageously expensive either. Like most wine producing countries they keep the best to themselves.
Whilst we were hiking down from Te Mata Peak we had met one of the DOC staff there and got chatting about wildlife in general. He said we should go and visit Mohi Bush, one of the few areas of original bushland, as opposed to regenerated bush, in New Zealand. And I have to say it was amazing. Although only a small area it was alive with butterflies and birds, and shows what could happen if the bush is allowed to regenerate. It was here we had our best sighting of the New Zealand Red Admiral. Similar to the one we have in the UK and Europe but distinctly different.
Walking through the bush was a rather magical experience and it was easy to imagine what it might have looked like centuries ago before the impact of modern man. We even found a glorious example of a Glade Copper – a new species of butterfly for us.
The Hawkes Bay area suffered terrible damage last year from Cyclone Gabrielle and we were able to see this when we travelled to our next destination. We took the road via Taupo and there were quite a few stretches of roadworks. But we had made the sensible decision to get up very early and leave by 6.30 am so that we avoided the worst of the jams.
In fact, we made excellent time to Taupo and were able to stop for a second breakfast. We’ve never been a fan of Taupo town but it does have a beautiful setting with Mt Ruahepu in the distance and the vast Taupo Lake in the foreground. Although very busy it made for a pleasant stop on our long 5+ hour journey to Coromandel.
The roads were relatively empty and we were able to stop in Te Aroha for lunch. Our choir sings a song called Te Aroha which translates as ‘the love’. The town was founded in the Edwardian era and parts of the original architecture have been preserved around the spa and gardens. In fact, we couldn’t help but notice how similar it appeared to Cheltenham, though on a less grand scale.
We drove on to Thames and the start of the Coromandel Peninsula. We had hired a house in Coromandel Town which is about an hour away from Thames. The road runs by the side of the sea for much of the journey and it’s a twisting, narrow road. This being near the end of the Christmas/summer holidays we had an alarming number of UTEs pulling large boats and caravans and nearly clipping us as we rounded the corners.
But we did make it in one piece to Kereru Cottage set in the hills just above Coromandel Town. And what a stunning location and house it turned out to be. From the very first moment we stepped inside we were mesmerised. It was the most expensive house we had hired but also one of the very best.
The house and grounds showed that this was a place which someone cared for, which isn’t always the case with AirBnB. Regenerated bush grew along the boundary and the house had a private track into part of it. The garden fairly blossomed and the trees were alive with birds.
We were rather privileged to see a Shining Cuckoo chick begging food from its host parent – a Grey Warbler. Of course, we felt rather sorry for the Warbler wasting its efforts on bringing up someone else’s kid but that’s nature in the raw.
It was just a delightful place to be and the perfect setting for us to drink the Nautilus Vintage Rose Sparkling wine which we had carried with us from the South Island. And, of course, we just had to decorate the wine glasses with the charms Jessica had given us at Christmas. We paired it with some beautiful Gem Fish which we had bought from the local chippie – they sold wet fish as well. We had never eaten this fish before but simply pan fried in butter it was gorgeous.
We would have been content to sit on the house deck all day looking at the view and watching the birds but the Coromandel Peninsula has so much more to offer. Having spent hours in the car the previous day we started off with a hike to ease our muscles. We chose the Success Track which started off from a former hospital site a couple of blocks away from our cottage. It wound up the hillside on an old miners’ road and proved to be a tricky climb. The earth here is largely comprised of clay and as there had been some light rain in the night the path was rather slick in places. But it was worth it for the views of the Town. And, as if we hadn’t had enough, we ventured out down the lane after sunset to see the glowworms twinkling away in the hedges. Quite magical.
In the past we had driven over to the east coast where you can find the lovely Cathedral Cove and Hot Water Beach. Delightful those these are we wanted to explore north of Coromandel Town into more remote areas. Beyond the settlement of Colville the road goes to Waiaro Bay where Oystercatcher, Godwit, Tern and Dotterel abound.
Beyond this the road splits and turns to gravel. Taking the easterly track, because the weather looked better there, we drove out to Port Charles. Despite its name it’s really just a jetty from which a few fishermen try their luck, though it had been an important port in the past.
Returning via Kennedy Bay we chanced upon an incredible dune system in a very wide, sandy bay at Tuateawa. There were a few people about, fishing, kayaking and walking. But for the most part it was an empty stretch of dunes and sea.
The following day we ventured up an even more ‘interesting’ gravel road right out to the very north of Coromandel. Port Jackson is now a DOC campground and, once again, set in a gorgeous bay. Here there were large groups of Terns all facing into wind like so many weather vanes. And it was incredibly windy so no wonder they were all lined up. But it was another beautiful, remote spot, well away from the rest of the world.
Along the way we had even managed to catch sight of the Long-tailed Blue butterfly which was a real bonus.
Driving back we called in at a cafe in Colville where the dahlias were alive with Monarch butterflies, a very showy but rather lovely invertebrate which has colonised New Zealand and is therefore considered a native now.
Sunset that evening brought a final curtain down on a beautiful place.
But it wasn’t quite over yet. The following morning, as we were getting ready to leave, a large group of California Quail decided to visit us and show us their young. It was all very moving.
And so we journeyed north, taking a quiet back road to Auckland rather than the quicker state highway 2. We stayed at a very lovely AirBnB in the suburbs, took the bus into town, had a wander around the quays area and a memorable meal at The Harbourside right above where the ferries for various islands and Auckland suburbs arrive and depart. It was quite a superb way to end our long trip to the Land of the Long White Cloud.
Travelling Light 