We had an earlier start this morning. Our shuttle bus to Stoney Bay for the start of the Coromandel Walkway walk was picking us up at 8:30am. It's a ten hour day, with the walk taking three and a half to four hours - the rest is actually getting there and back. There are no cafes or restaurants at the end of the peninsula, so we prepared a picnic lunch yesterday evening. We may have to eat early on to avoid carrying the load too far!
The minibus duly arrives on time, we arrange to borrow two walking poles each to aid us on our way once we arrive at the start. The walk apparently requires a reasonable level of fitness as there are some serious upy and downy bits (technical terms there). There are only the two of us on the 'tour' this morning. First we drive to Colville (we could have taken our car this far as the road is sealed to here), then it's onto the gravel road, which winds to-and-fro along the east side of the peninsula. This way the gravel road is 26km long. Our guide has a very dry humour, slightly in the 'grumpy old man' mode, but is very informative. He tells us about the history and geology of the areas we are passing as well as imparting knowledge on the native trees and other flora. Of course, the first discussion of the day is the rugby! (We find out later from our B&B host that his brother was an All Black player in the 1960s or 70s). A number of stops are made to show the Maori Pa sites and he explains the layout of the defensive earthworks they employed. He also gives us the low-down on several of the local people as we pass them by, waving cheerily (?) out of the window.
Just past Colville he stops to show us the Little Shag.
And some cute Brown Teal. Rare but particular to the North Island.
On reaching the start point at Stoney Bay he gives a short security briefing - who to call to get a chopper to fetch us if we don't think we'll be out by nightfall, poisonous plant to avoid at all costs, then takes a photograph of us to aid Identification - he stopped short of asking for our dental records though - phew. All very reassuring!!
We pick up our walking poles and set off.
Eric climbs over the stile at the start of our walk.
Almost as soon as we get onto the track it starts picking with rain. It stops almost before we realise it, and that's the days rainfall in about 30 seconds. Within another hundred metres or so we are taking off a few layers of clothes as it's getting warmer already. Bags are getting heavier though!
We walk through very pleasant native bush. The track is well formed and gradually winds it's way upwards. The sea is a turquoise blue through the gaps in the trees.
It really did look turquoise in real life honest!
Eric basks in the sun as the rain clouds move away in the distance.
Our tour guide had told us that after walking for about an hour and a half we would come to a lookout track, and that it was well worth the scramble up to it - so we did. And... we actually made it to that point in the suggested timeframe - we were very pleased with our efforts at that point. The scramble up to the lookout really was a scramble but the views were great. Some cloud but the sun was still out. There was even a rudimentary seat (well a couple of planks of wood balanced on some more planks).
Eric takes up a precarious position on the end of the planks at the Coromandel Walkway first section lookout. The edge of the cliff is a little too close for comfort for Eric.
It was a tad windy but we decided at that point we deserved a snack, with an ulterior motive of lightening our load somewhat. After consuming two whole bottles of water plus a (mostly) healthy snack of fresh pineapple, strawberries, nuts, raisins and half a Mars bar each (well I did say mostly healthy- you can't expect leopards to change their spots!), we resumed our walk. With the lighter load we make the next section ten minutes under the allotted timeframe. This was probably because, after a fairly flat coastal section, it was then downhill to Poley Bay.
There are some native Clematis still in flower along the way
Panorama from the flat coastal section.
Along this flat section we spy a shrub leaning across the path and go to push it out of the way -
OH NO! It's the extremely poisonous Tutu plant that kills elephants (if they eat it, but there aren't that many elephants in NZ), and is dangerous for the bees to collect as it gets added in with the Manuka honey making it too deadly to eat (they have to remove the hives from the peninsula before this plant flowers, normally in January, although to us it looks like it's flowering now).
What shall we do?
We duck and crawl past it. As we stopped to photograph it, a young German couple approached. We told them about the poisonous plant but she said she had already touched it (they were doing the return route) and eaten her sandwiches afterwards. We didn't tell her the story about the dead elephants...we didn't find any remains on the path later so guessing that she was OK!
The downhill slope to Poley Bay is steep, narrow and of loose gravel. Luckily, with the walking poles we made it to the bottom in double-quick time; although at one point the female walker went skidding and thought her ankle was a goner - wondering how much it might cost for the helicopter to come in and take you out, a quick rest and the ankle had recovered enough to resume the downward descent - this time with the spike covers off the end of the poles!
Eric notes that it may only be 1 minute to Poley Bay beach, but it's still another hour to our lift back at Fletcher's Bay.
There is a small beach with a stream running into it and then the path starts uphill again. This time a bit steeper than the first gentle winding path, but at least still winding rather than directly up.
We are at the top again!
Through a grove of Nikau Palms
Here's another stile, it must mean we are at the end of this section. Yippee
Finishing this section we came out onto the third section, which is farmland.
Eric shows us the way.
Finding a grassy ledge sheltered from the worst of the wind we sit to partake in a picnic lunch. Well we were not going to carry it all the way round without eating it! It's a delightful spot to stop, luckily no nosey cows or bulls around today.
Looking back towards the lookout point (above the small island) from whence we've just come.
Looking forward to where we need to go.
Ham, organic Brie, garlic hummus, some rather squashed bread, crisps, more nuts and seeds, strawberries and mandarins - yum.
Plus another two bottles of water thirstily imbibed and we are ready for the last leg of the journey.
A rather lovely tree as seen from our picnic spot.
The guide had warned us that on this section we would reach a first bay, but this would not be where he would meet us, there would be another uphill and downhill section before we reached Fletcher's Bay, the end point.
Uphill anyone?
The Tilley hats are working well, as we breach the brow of the hill the wind whips up and tries to remove them, but thanks to their brilliant design they stay in place.
Are we nearly there yet?
A bit closer anyway.
We can see the van down below.
We are at the end.
There is a cup of tea and biscuits waiting for us, well not literally waiting, he did have to get out his gas stove and boil the kettle - but that meant it was a superbly fresh cup of tea, and very much appreciated after all our exertions.
The drive back is gravel road all the way to Colville, 36km this time, still twisty and turny, but very much along the coast.
We stop several times to look at the large Pohutukawa trees.
The one below is the largest in the Southern Hemisphere, or something along those lines anyway!
When the loggers took out all the Kauri trees (because they have very straight trunks with barely a branch coming off them until the canopy), they left the Pohutakawa. Their trunks are twisted and multi-stem, not making a useful tree for man. This is probably the only reason they survived when most of the Kauri didn't.
The mountains are very steep and they have sometimes have as much as 500 mm rain in one night. We pass an area he told us was flooded up to about 6ft over a very large area (he actually gave us the cubic footage of water that passed through the area but our minds are not that retentive!). It seems it rains even more in NZ than in Wales (if you can imagine that).
We are hoping that we may see some Dolphins along the coast. The guide tells us that at one bay where we stop, he has seen the dolphins come in very close to the shore, popping their heads out of the water to observe the human beings before carrying on playing in the gentle surf. Of course, we don't see any ourselves. This seems to be a familiar tale of this holiday - people telling us there were Dolphins and Orcas by the bucket load, and even two Right Whale sightings, but always the week before we arrive in that particular place. Better luck next time.
We arrive back and are dropped at the accommodation. Deciding we are quite full after our lavish picnic lunch, we decide to just relax after having a shower and a rub down with a firebrick ( I might have made the last bit up).