Leucistic Oystercatcher





We went for a drive today to see some of the stunning coastline in this area & in a small bay that shall remain nameless we stumbled across quite a number of birds resting on the shell banks up at the high tide mark, they were a lot closer than the birds at Miranda which made it a great opportunity to bird watch for awhile.

 

 

It was a surprise to spot in amongst the oystercatchers a rare pure white bird. There are two species of oystercatchers in NZ; the Variable Oystercatcher which is a slighly smaller all black bird & the South Island Pied Oystercatcher which is a larger black & white bird & they both hang out together.
 

This white bird looks like a leucistic variable oystercatcher going by its size (leucism is a condition characterized by reduced pigmentation in animals, it is not albino as they don't have pink eyes)   . And also the possibility that it could be the very same white bird, nicknamed Blanche, that had been seen around the Kawakawa Bay area a few years ago, Kawakawa Bay is across the Firth of Thames, not very far as the crow flies or in this case the oystercatcher. Blanche hasn't been spotted there for a couple of seasons so it looks like I have re-discovered her! What a thrill. 

Along with the oystercatchers there was a healthy population of the endangered New Zealand Dotterels resting in the warm sand & not very keen to move either which allowed me to crawl very close.



NZ Dotterel



And behind the dotterels also resting in the sand were a small number of Godwits, these looked like juvenile non breeding Godwits that won't be flying all those thousands of kilometers to Siberia. They'll be wintering over here in NZ.



It's amazing what you see in a small group of birds when you spend the time to scan them & allow them to resettle. This poor soul has not only the wrong colourings but has deformed feet although he could have lost them to a clam.

More photos here of  Coromandel & Miranda Shorebirds

White Star Station

 

White Star Station- the white tracks through the grass is topdressing that has just been laid.

We're now parked up at another farm in Colville for a couple of nights before we press on to Port Jackson. White Star Station is named after a gold mine that was on the property early last century. This family farm is over 6000 acres and is run by a fifth generation farmer and one of his sons, there are lots of different accommodation options and activities available for visitors although this is the beginning of the low season & we were the only ones parked up by the cottages last night. Tonight we have two other couples for company, one lot in a cottage & the other in a small pup tent in the middle of the paddock.

We had called ahead to check on what was available & to make sure it was OK to come, there aren't too many options for parking over up here near the tip of the peninsula & we didn't want to be caught out. Our hostess wasn't here on arrival but this is what we found on the office door along with a phone in a bucket to call should we have any problems. That's what it's like in rural New Zealand, very trusting people.

We could have parked out in the paddock if we'd wanted to but we decided on having power, showers & toilets handy & internet access because for the next 10 days we'll not have any of that. We'll also be able to top up with fresh water & keep our grey & black water tanks reasonably empty by using the facilities. There are no dump stations at the DOC camp at Port Jackson.


That's us parked up beside a couple of old caravans that are used for accommodation during the summer 

There are many farm tracks that lead all over the farm and up the hills & ranges behind, there are lookouts, waterfalls & caves, old mines to explore & glow worms to find but we decided to take the ute along one of the lower tracks that lead to Dutchmans Camp about 3kms away. Here two "wilderness" cabins are located deep in the bush beside a mountain stream. A place to disappear from the world for awhile.

There were some beautiful nikau palm groves along the track. Nikau palms are New Zealand's only native palm and an iconic kiwi symbol. These would have been left from the original virgin forest that covered the peninsula. There were also very large puriri trees and of course pohutukawas.

 

Back at camp later in the afternoon we were welcomed by the farm pup, he was a little naughty though & had to be shooed away in the end. But he was very cute. The chooks also came to check us out but thankfully the two Tamworth pigs were enclosed in there sty. David went over to the yard & fed them out vegetable scraps tonight which by the sound of it they were very pleased to have.

We took a drive up to the Colville settlement which is just a couple of kilometres away, this is a "blink & you'll miss it" place; a very old General Store, just like they used to be, a small Post Office that's open 3 afternoons a week, a cafe, a hall & tennis courts. That's it. Oh & some very pretty toilets, the front covered totally in mosaics.

More photos here from White Star Station & Colville

Rustic Farmyard- Kirita Bay

After 3 nights we are about to leave one of what I’m sure is going to be our more interesting sites. This is the NZMCA lowcost park over property that we were wanted to stop at in the pouring rain the other day when we came up the coast. We liked the look of it and decided to come back here, mind you on first impressions we wondered if we’d made the right decision. The road down to this beautiful bay is rather steep & narrow but Marie, our host, told us on the phone ‘no problems, our laden sheep trucks come & go all the time’ & it wasn’t that bad although everyone we’ve met down here is a little afraid of the return journey especially the 2wd vehicles &/or meeting another vehicle on the way down. Stopping & starting 4 times to open & close gates doesn’t help either, especially the vans that only have one person in them.

And Marie was right, we managed fine. There was one other fifth-wheeler already parked up (they had brought their large dog & two parrots on holiday with them!) and with the direction of little signs we found our way through the mass of retired farm junk, buildings & machinery to the beach front. 

The Welcoming Committee

We did meet George, Marie’s husband on the way down & he directed us to park along the garden fence at the back of the site so the smaller campervans could park along the front when & if they arrived later in the day. Another benefit of us not being in a hurry & travelling short distances is we get to a new site late morning/early afternoon and have the pick of spots.

The “garden fence” was a rickety old farm fence that had in a previous life surrounded the holding yard of an equally rusty & rundown cowshed.  It now enclosed a large vegetable patch at the end of its summer growing season although there was a row of kumara (sweet potato) coming along nicely for winter. The local turkey family & a few blackbirds were sampling the tomatoes & many of the pumpkins were half eaten. Obviously the netting draped over the pumpkin patch did not work although it must have slowed the turkeys down a bit; I rescued a young turkey chick at one stage who was trussed up like, well, a turkey. He’d been doing a few backward & forward rolls trying to catch up with his mother & sibling when they took off without him.

We lined up nice & straight along the fence leaving enough room to open the slide-out, it wasn’t until we sat down at the table and there right outside our dining room window were 3 large piles of cow dung! Put there to fertilise the garden for the next season I’m assuming but right now sitting steaming away in the hot afternoon heat, smelling very high & attracting flies from all directions. But then along came the farm chooks which over the 3 days we’ve been here have quickly demolished & scattered each pile, scratching, pecking & clucking their way through finding lots of tasty grubs & seeds on the way. The highlight for me though were the family of quail, eight cocks & one very pretty hen, that came in the late afternoon to do the same. Fantastic! What gorgeous wee birds they are with fabulous feather detail, something I’ve not seen up close for awhile as they are quite timid birds.

As the afternoon wore on other campervans & buses trickled in & found their positions. It wasn’t too large an area but everyone was very mindful of not blocking other’s views. By nightfall there were ten buses, vans & fifth-wheelers parked up. There were about the eight on the second night and last night seven vans of various types, 3 tents, 6 fizz boats & 22 fisher-men & women from Papamoa. The farm has a bach (holiday cottage) in the corner of the bay where quite a few of them slept. They were quick to apologise for any noise they were going to make last night but in fact we didn’t hear a thing, probably because we were making our own noise with 2 couples across the way. I mean how could you not join in when one of the buses had this number plate and there was a beautiful sunset to watch.

We will have to keep an eye on our evening entertainment as it would be very easy to get into the happy-hour routine & while there’s nothing wrong with that when you’re on holiday for a week or so we wouldn’t like to make a habit of it every night of the week for the next year or so!

One evening after he’d mustered the lambs down to the woolshed just behind the camp site(he was dosing them the next day), George stopped by for a chat along with the farm dogs who waited patiently while he drank a beer & told us about the farm. He was the seventh generation to farm the large station and times have & still are very tough. I asked him when he had stopped milking, “November, 1979” he said matter-of-factly; I’m not sure whether he was so exact about the date because he was pleased or sad about that fact. The very hilly & steep land didn’t seem to me to be very suitable for dairying. They now just run sheep & beef. The motorhome park brings in a little more income & I wonder why more farmers aren’t doing this as it’s a relatively easy way to diversify and provide some fantastic overnighting opportunities for motorhomers. With the amount of coastline NZ has there are sure to be hundreds of accessible private bays like Kirita Bay.

I climbed up the hill behind us one evening to catch this old gnarly Puriri tree & pump shed in the good light of the late afternoon sun, an added bonus was the house cow & calf enjoying the view as well.

We are beginning to learn that you can never judge a book by its cover while living life on the road, we had a most wonderful stay & thoroughly enjoyed our visit.

Golf, Gold & A Railway

We're staying in a lovely private bay at the moment(more on that in the next post) south of Coromandel township and today we've decided to travel back into town to play a round of golf & visit a popular tourist attraction, the Driving Creek Railway.

This was our first round of golf since starting our travels & we thought we'd better have a game before the clubs thought they'd just come along for the ride. Most of the land the Coromandel course covers was barren gold mining tailings from early last century and the reason each hole is named after a local gold mine. It's a very picturesque course but very challenging with lots of hills & slopes.

We were the only two on the course for much of the time & we both thoroughly enjoyed the round although it was getting rather hot towards the end caused by both the sun & the exercise. I liked their novel way of keeping the rake out of the bunker, with any luck you're ball could hit the handle & ricochet away, hopefully up onto the green!

After golf we drove over to the otherside of town, all of 3 minutes away, and booked for the 2pm rail trip at Driving Creek. We had half an hour to spare so we wandered down the road to the Driving Creek Cafe & had a bite to eat. The cafe was slightly alternative & vegetarian but with delicious food & coffee. David had the quiche & I had the gourmet salad sandwich.

The Driving Creek Railway (named after a gold mine that was located on the property) has largely come about due to the work of one man, Barry Briknall. Barry is an acclaimed NZ potter, he is also a conservationist, developer, railway enthusiast & engineer. To get the very good quality terracotta clay down from the steep hillsides on his property he built a narrow gauge railway (381mm, 15inches) through very rough & steep terrain, surveying was done with home made instruments and a slasher to get through the scrub.

Barry began the project in 1973 eventually building 3kms of rail. But it wasn't until 1990 that Driving Creek opened to the public after Barry's bank manager suggested it was a way to reduce his considerable debt.



Bridges & viaducts, three short tunnels, two spirals & five reversing points are required to gain the elevation to the Eyefull Tower where there are fantastic panoramic views out over Coromandel, across the Firth of Thames & up to Waiheke Island in the Hauraki Gulf. On clear days the skyscrapers of downtown Auckland can be seen. Thousands of bottles form retaining walls in many places & pieces of weathered pottery sculpture dot the line along with  6 or 7 small but perfectly formed railway huts. Over 27,000 native trees are planted each year and the scrub is slowly returning to the native forest of yesteryear.

In the first year of operation just 15,000 people road the rail, in 2011 the one millionth person was celebrated. Most of the income from the railway is used in conservation & upkeep on the property, but Barry also donates to the local community in many ways. Driving Creek will be left to the people of NZ when Barry (who is 72) passes on.

Six degrees

There is no ‘6 degrees removed’ in NZ, I’d say it was 1 or 2 degrees; in just 2 weeks of being on the move we have met our housekeeper from 14 years ago who parked up beside us at a DOC camp, the owner/administrator of a motorhoming forum I belong to was parked up on the other side. While soaking in the thermal pool of another camping ground we also met a friend/colleague, & family, of David’s daughter who lives in Invercargill (for those reading from overseas, Invercargill is just about as far away as you can get from us in NZ, any further & you’re in the Southern Ocean & on the way to Antarctica)

And now David’s sister & husband who are parked in the same camping ground as us, they’ve been here for 10 days & while we knew they were in the Coromandel somewhere, it was a surprise to see them just down the way. It’s certainly a small world. Oh yes I nearly forgot, & my parents. But I guess that doesn’t count as we were parked up beside their house at the time ;)

David's sister Jackie steps out of their campervan

We are finding life on the road is a very friendly one & we’re meeting lots of interesting people. It helps when you have a husband who is extra friendly & a good listener, I’m not sure folk have any intention of telling him their life stories when they meet him but invariably by the time he’s finished chatting he knows it all. He must have a very trusting face. I think he should have been Irish instead of English he’s excellent at indulging in some ‘criac’. We’ve been given fresh snapper fillets for dinner twice, once by the camp owner who only caught 4 fish & last night by the bus parked up beside us. At this rate David won’t need to go fishing! I wonder if there are any scallop divers handy……

The other day a guy who came across from the digger he was operating near where we were parked made himself known to us as he wanted to know more about our rig, at the end of a very looooong conversation he said he was bringing us fresh vegetables the next day but he forgot! Oh well win some, lose some.

I’m liking the privacy the fifth-wheeler gives us though, with tinted windows and insect screens it’s very hard to see inside during the day, unlike some campervans where I’m sure the occupants feel like they’re inside a goldfish bowl. In fact it’s quite disconcerting when people come along and stand right beside a window while discussing &/or admiring the van especially when right above them I’m doing the dishes or making dinner! It does make it great for people-watching though when you’re parked up in a busy bay or campsite.

At Long Bay over the holidays or a long weekend they are often full and their capacity is 640 people, that sounds like an horrendous amount to us and looking at the size of the sites everybody would be packed in cheek to jowl. We're both certain we would not enjoy that one little bit. We'll see how we go over the coming Easter weekend when we're meant to be at the DOC camp in Port Jackson.

Long Bay Campground where we are parked in 2 sites

We survived..

…but not without a few more grey hairs & white knuckles.

We actually managed to get out of the Tapu Creek Campground without too much drama in the end. We removed a couple of marker posts(which we’ve only just remembered we never put back!) and squeezed down the drive alongside the semi-permanent vans. I walked ahead directing (I’m good at that J) and holding back a couple of overhanging branches with the broom. Sweet! So now we can recommend “big rigs OK” at Tapu Creek.

The rain started just as we got back to the coast road, welcome rain, very welcome heavy rain to a totally parched peninsula but not welcome by some newbies manoeuvring their rig up an extremely narrow & winding road with the ocean waves beckoning from the bottom of the cliffs just out the passenger’s side window. So nervous & bumpy the shots out of focus but you get the idea.

We took our time and with little traffic on the road behind us we didn’t need to worry about slowing people up too much & when a car or two did catch up to us we did as all good motorhoming people should; pulled over at out earliest convenience to let them through (& remove the pressure from our driver) We had a couple of very tight blind corners where we had to stop to let approaching vehicles through but they were made easier by the large convex mirrors set up so you could see around the corner. Because it was raining most had their lights on which reflected very well in the mirrors.

We were intending to stop at a NZMCA (lowcost) park over property just before Coromandel township but we couldn’t touch base with the owners and then when we saw, in the pouring rain, the very steep farm driveway that dropped off the road down to a secluded bay we decided to carry on to Coromandel township. We’ve since spoken to the owners & will be going back there for a few days before continuing on to Colville.

Long Bay Campground, Coromadel Town

We are now parked up at the Long Bay Camping ground just around the harbour from the town. It’s a lovely bay although we’ve had a mixed bag of weather since arriving, hot & humid sun after that initial rain, now torrential rain & and an onshore sou’wester that’s been buffeting the van for all of last night & most of today. Talk about being rocked to sleep!

The view out the window

It’s given us time to catch up on work (for David) & on the blog & photos for me, although our internet is very intermittent. We are using our mobiles as “hot spots” and they tend to fade in and out on a whim. I have the feeling the further up we go the less likely we’ll be able to get reception.

Yesterday we went for a tiki-tour around to Te Kouma where the Auckland-Coromandel ferry comes in and also the mussel barges are unloaded. Coromandel is well known for the green lipped mussel farms that dot the harbours and bays along the coast.

The ferry leaves from here for Auckland

We stopped for lunch at the Mussel Kitchen, I had mussel chowder & David, battered mussels & while they were both nice enough & good value they weren’t a patch on my very popular mussel dish which I serve often, mussels steamed with garlic, ginger, chilli sauce, lemon zest, spring onions & coriander with a large dash of wine thrown in for good measure.

 

Here at Long Bay there are a couple of short walks over to another bay & up to a kauri grove where there is a monster kauri left from the logging days of past. A few dozen smaller examples are trying their best to catch up. I practiced some of my camera skills & tried a bit of impressionist art (done in camera not with photoshop)

The Monster Kauri

 

Rapaura Gardens & Koru @ Rapaura Café

This blog post is for my friend Kerry. She said don’t just tell us about your travels, I want to hear about boutique food or great cafés you find. So here you are Kerry, one for you (as I’m not sure how great or numerous the cafés are going to be as we move further up the peninsula)

Today it is overcast with a few passing showers, rain the area desperately needs but nowhere near enough. As with the rest of NZ & in particular the North Island the endless summer continues with a serious drought taking hold. We had planned to visit the Rapaura Gardens & it was quite pleasant without the hot sun beating down & the drizzle just enough to not make a nuisance of itself.

The Rapaura Gardens & Café are located not too far up the Tapu-Coroglen Road. In sixty four acres of what was once totally native bush, there are now tranquil garden walks & garden art, beautiful waterlily ponds and a native bush walk to the Seven Steps to Heaven waterfall. They also have lodge & cottage accommodation along with the lovely Koru café where we had lunch after exploring.

David had one of his favourite dishes;  locally fresh caught flounder which he said was superb. Lightly panfried & finished off baked in the oven, it came with a salad & freshly baked potato bread in a small flower pot. 

I had Moroccan meatballs, tomato topping & couscous which were also delicious and very filling. The coffee was great and the family & staff very pleasant & friendly.  Sasha the chef has a very good name in the area as we were recommended to the café 3 or 4 different times on our travels.

So if you are in the area to stay or just passing through; here is another recommendation; Rapaura is definitely worth a visit.

And there in the gardens was another Trekka for David to inspect; had he delivered or sold this one? He couldn’t find any identification to help & red was not a standard colour so who knows…..

The Trekka deck was planted in pongas(tree ferns)

 Check out more photos from Rapaura here

Tapu Creek

After leaving Thames we travelled a short distance up the Coromandel Coast road to Tapu where we’ve set up camp Tapu Creek Campground for a couple of days.

We are doing the coast road in short bursts for two reasons,  a) we have 5 weeks to explore the area & b)the road is so narrow and winding & a challenge at the best of times, when you’re towing a 5^th wheeler behind it can be downright hideous. Not so much for the driver but the co-pilot who is sitting just about above the rocky drop offs into the ocean below. I’m sure I will settle down as we get further on up the road although we’re now re-thinking our plan to make it to Port Jackson at the tip of the peninsula. We’re getting conflicting messages, various people we’ve come across say “yes, it’ll be a piece of cake” or “travel at night so you can see approaching traffic on the blind corners”, others their eyes grow to saucers and they ask “really?” I think we’ll have to do a reccie trip from Colville to satisfy ourselves. But that’s a week or two away so no need for decisions yet.

In the meantime we’re parked up at Tapu Creek Camping Ground, a small family run ground a few kilometres up the Tapu-Coroglen road (a road we definitely would not be able to cross had it been in our plans). We’ve managed to squeeze ourselves through the entrance and around some trees & had the pick of sites as the Coroglen road is closed for some bridge repairs at the moment and they aren’t as busy as usual. The owner was delighted to tell us once we were settled that we were the biggest van they’d ever had in the park. Hmmm…….I’m thinking I know why he didn’t tell us that before we manoeuvred our way in here, we may just have had a re-think. Oh well, we’ll worry about how we’re going to get the rig out of here when the Sunday comes.

Anyway, now that we’re here it’s very peaceful with lots of birdlife, we even have our very own swimming hole just down the bank behind us which was very pleasant to cool off in this afternoon. The owners are very friendly and helpful, they gave us some freshly caught snapper fillets to have for dinner as the husband had been out competing in a fishing tournament and they had surplus fish. The complete opposite of the Miranda Top10 Holiday Park where we stayed for one night before leaving for Thames. They had a page full of rules & regulations to follow, mind you they were very friendly too & we thoroughly enjoyed soaking in their lovely big thermal pool.

Check out more photos from Tapu Creek here

Not all camp sites.....

…. have a fabulous outlook. Some are there purely for practical reasons.

Danby Park is located right in the centre of Thames, on the main road heading to the Coromandel Peninsula and is a very recent addition to areas where you can park overnight in the district. I thought it might have been quite noisy being on a main road but it wasn’t too bad, David was a little more unsettled as there were people passing through the area on foot until quite late.  It did feel rather strange though setting up “camp” in the middle of a public carpark. The Coromandel has a very strict no Freedom Camping policy with an instant $200 fine should you wish to ignore the rules. It looks like the locals have another way of dealing with it.

We’ve heard various stories of wardens tapping on the window at 5am waving a piece of paper or of people been asked to move on when they’ve only stopped to do some fishing or eat their dinner. Sadly once again the minority have spoilt it for the majority.

Thames District Council has made Danby Park available for self-contained vehicles with a minimum 2 night stay. Even though there is no charge & the local camping grounds may complain, this must benefit the local economy. Take us for example; had the park not been available we would not have stopped overnight, yes we would have purchased groceries & fuelled up on our way through but having stayed overnight  we also visited a café, washed the ute, walked through town & made a few purchases from various shops adding money to the economy. Surely that’s a win-win situation. While some councils do see the wider picture others need to look at the benefits of doing the same. Motorhoming is a large & growing industry both with New Zealanders and overseas visitors alike.

Thames is the gateway to the Coromandel & a delightful town with lots of heritage & historic buildings, it was once a thriving gold mining boom town proving entertainment & supplies to the miners who came from the many gold mines located just out of town & in the hills & ranges of the Coromandel.

 

These Art Deco pubs look like they've come straight from Napier.

 

Now that we’re on the road I’m going to continue adding to my “New Zealand Country Churches” collection than I started  “collecting” a few years ago starting with this lovely church on the outskirts of Thames;  Te Tokoto Tapu (Holy Trinity Church) Parawai, built in 1886 by local Maori.

There were two more beautifully restored churches in town. A lot of my church photos have been picked up by the Historic Places Trust for use in their online register & they've also been used in Wikipedia. 

Here’s is the link to my Flickr set - NZ Country Churches

And if you'd like to view more photos from Thames they are here