Although the distance from Pauanui to Coromandel was a mere 109km, the narrow, windy road traveling up and down hill after hill took us about 2.5 hours. We were entertained with many of the classic cars from the Beach Hop traveling towards us, one after the other. Eventually we arrived at the Coromandel NZMCA Park, a huge graveled area with just a handful of vans in residence. And what did we find, but yet another dog running loose. There is no excuse and the owner was reminded of the rules.
NZMCA Park
The town was named after HMS Coromandel, which arrived to pick up a load of kauri timber, just the thing for ships masts. Down by the waterside is “Ship in a Bottle” by Rebekah Pearson to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the anchoring of British Naval Ship HMS Coromandel off Colville in June 1820.
HMS Coromandel, Ship in a Bottle
Down by the wharf
Gold fever struck, and the town boomed when a large strike was made on Tokatea Hill. Assay House must have been busy weighing all the gold strikes back in the day, but now deals in fishing gear.
Assay House
Another interesting building in town was the Admiral Arms Hotel, built in the 1870s. No doubt plenty of stories were told here across the bar by the visiting sailors.
The Admiral Arms Hotel
These days Coromandel is a tranquil little town, generally blessed with a great climate, a busy little main street with a good selection of cafes for those who want to do lunch, and plenty of things to see and do. Including the attraction of Driving Creek Railway just up the road – can hardly wait, that’s on the “to do” list while we are here.
1 comment:
We visited this little town when we were in NZ. From memory there was a quilt ship where I purchased some fabric........which still has not been used.....oops.
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