We left the
camp site around 0930 in the greyish weather and headed east via Thames in the
direction of Whitiangi and crossed the hilly areas and by late morning it was
raining. Oh dear, not what was expected.
About ten
kilometres outside of Whitiangi we cam to a corner w
here it looks like a local travelling to fast in his car had hit the side of a Large camper van and making quite a mess of both vehicles but thank heavens nobody appeared to be hurt.
The on to
Whitianga where we had a coffee and a cake and then a walk around the town but
we did when driving see a very expensive housing area where you could moor your
boat at the bottom of your garden for quite a chunk of cash no doubt.
Then we
continued around the coast until we reached the town of Coramandel where we had
lunch of a homemade pie chips and it really was very good and tasty indeed.
Then on to travel on the Driving Creek Railway which is an amazing piece of
personal engineering started by a potter who wanted to mine clay from up the
side of a mountain and built a mini train to bring down the clay only he
started to run out of money and so his bank suggested that he turn the rail road
in to a paying venture and as a result is caters to thousands of tourists per
annum who take the trip ap the hill for about one hour. At the top of the hil
they have built what the call the ‘EYEFULL TOWER’ where you can see the
complete coastline and Auckland on a very clear day, which it was not.
We drove
back to the camp site and feeling quite tired as the roads are winding up and
down for hours on end so it takes a lot of concentration because if you go to
fast there is nothing to stop you falling down the mountain, no barriers at
all!!.
We enjoyed
cheese and biscuits for dinner and also met in the kitchen a couple who had a
New Zealand made caravan and we chatted to them for a while.
Looks like
rain tonight.
