The Coromandel Coast

Friday, February 19, 2000:  The Coromandel Coast

8:00 AM:  Arrived in Auckland, New Zealand.  It is humid, but the warmth feels good compared to the air conditioning of the airplane’s cabin.

We headed south  in our Budget rental car to our reserved timeshare in the Central/Taupo area of the North Island.

When we were planning our trip, we asked our mutual friends for suggestions for places to visit/see/hike.  One friend highly suggested we route our trip to see the Coromandel Coast on our way to our condo.  Sounds like a plan.

By the looks of the map, we calculated the scenic drive would only take us out of our way by an hour.  The theme song of Gilligan’s Island comes to mind, whenever I think of the Coromandel Coast – in a good way.  We took five hours to navigate the coast.

Those five hours were pretty memorable.  The coast was much like Highway 1 on the West Coast of California.  The road winds along the coastal contours of the island.  The route was scenic with the azure blue waters on one side and verdant and golden rolling hills on the other side.

We stopped at the Coromandel Forest Park to take a hike (because we’re avid hikers).  On one of the hills overlooking a beach, we came across a man with a telescope aimed toward the beach.  As we approached, the owner of the telescope looked up from his eyepiece and, with a big grin, asked us, “Do you want to see something cool?”  Sure, who can resist an offer to see something cool?  I stepped up to look in the telescope’s eyepiece.  With a little bit of focusing, I spied a bird on the beach.  “I see it now.” I said.  The man informed, “It’s a yellow-eyed penguin; one of the rarest penguins to see in the wild.  They’re very shy.”

Wow, I LOVE penguins.  I didn’t even know there was such a thing as a yellow-eyed penguin.

The man zoomed the lens a little more so I could see a faint yellow stripe at the eye area.  It was blurry, but seeing the marking confirmed the species.

After Doug’s turn to look, we spoke a little bit more with the man about the penguins to be seen in and around New Zealand.  After that encounter, I decided to give myself a challenge to see all the species of penguins in the wild.  What possibilities.  What a fun challenge.  Everybody needs a goal in life.  Why not make this my Holy Grail?

After many photo stops we found our way to the timeshare condo, the Kaimanawa Lodge (Taupehi Road, Turangi, NZ).  We stayed in Unit 203, a studio apartment with a mini kitchen.

Exhausted from the drive/hike/drive and a bit of jet lag, after checking in, we had a glass of wine and shared a dessert.