North Island Newsletter

Our wonderful NZ hosts Dee and Chris suggested a trip to Coromandel, a Peninsula east of Auckland named after a little town in India with a much longer name than the Brit settlers could manage. It's a little timewarp reminiscent of Britain in the inter war period with clapboard houses and licensing hours that disappeared in the Blitz.
Our host Brian rented us a bungalow with a magnificent view over the Firth of Thames. Brian, 70, was a fish smoker, a sheep shearer and a restaurateur with a new burgeoning career as a whittler of walking sticks. He also knows his NZ.
New Zealand, on a brief acquaintance, is akin to a beauty queen - very beautiful on the surface but with depths not as hidden as she supposes. For example the big attraction Coromandel is Cathedral Cove and the Hot Water beach - forget them. Hot mud is overrated and a two hour walk to see a Cove is an exercise too far.
Brian knew this but was too cute to tell us outright. His next suggestion was on the button. The Driving Creek railway which snakes 1,200 feet into the mountain overlooking Coromandel is a sensation. It is the creation of NZ potter Barry Bricknell who originally built it to bring clay down from the hill quarry. Soon he discovered he had a tourist attraction whose income he could use to replant the mountains which had been logged and stripped to feed the Brits down the years. Now Kauri trees which will take 100 years to mature have replaced the sheep and cows which fed the Empire. Barry isn't shy about relating his views and gets even more enthusiastic about his proselytising when he spots a couple of Saga louts from London! Incidentally, if you're lucky he will give you a personalised chat at the Lookout with its magnificent views over Coromandel and Whitianga. The lookout is called the Eyefull Tower for obvious reasons.
To Touranga to see David Barons, a former National Hunt trainer from Devon responsible for many big winners including the Grand National winner Seagram. David and his (second) wife Anna emigrated to NZ six years ago and have a lovely house with a view over the Pacific, 60 acres and sheep and cattle.
David and Colin reminisce about the good old days of British racing. The current National Hunt champion trainer Paul Nicholls was his jockey and, subsequently, his assistant trainer. David and his wife have a business developing and building houses and seem very happy to be out of racing although they own a couple of potential jumpers for sale in Britain if anyone bites.

We overnighted in Rotorua, inhaled the sulphur fumes, saw a Maori show and enjoyed following white water rafters as they negotiated the Okere Falls and river.
Onwards to Lake Taupo, through wonderful countryside (imagine a cross between the Lake District and Wensleydale). We visited a geothermal area of outstanding beauty called Orakei Korako (the Hidden Valley). We navigated a lake to enter this pulsating and steaming location with caves, geysers and mud pools. Truly one of the wonders of NZ and very special.
Lake Taupo is huge and overlooked by the magnificent snow capped Mount Raupehu, a volcano which is still active. We watched bungee jumping into the spectacular Waikato river which winds its way from the lake to the Pacific just south of Auckland. We sat on Kinloch beach to recover, basking in 30 degree temperatures.
Onto Napier, a town on the east coast devastated by the 1931 earthquake. We stayed in the County hotel which is owned by David Barons' son Chris who also emigrated to NZ a few years ago. This was one of only two buildings to survive the earthquake. The town is now the epitome of Art Deco, which was the fashion when rebuilding took place in the 1930s.
David also has the New Zealand Wine Centre opposite his hotel where he shows films of the local wineries with each proprietor talking about their individual grape varieties. This is a novel, pioneering idea which attracts huge interest from the cruise liners calling in at Napier. It means that Saga louts like us don't have to visit wineries to get an idea of the produce. They can taste and experiment and 19 of the local wineries sell their produce there.
We did go to the Church Road winery, purchasing some of their prize winning 2007 Syrrah for our lovely Auckland hosts. They have produced wine there since 1897 but developed their reds only since the war when the legendary Tom McDonald took over production there.


Next - the South Island and the Mackenzies of the Rings.