Day 05 - Wednesday 17th September

The plan for today was to leave Whitianga and drive south along the east coast of the Coromandel Peninsula, stopping at a few points of interest before heading inland to Matamata. After breakfast in the unit again, we checked out at 10am.

At breakfast time, it was fine and sunny with a few dark clouds around. However, there were a few light showers along the way as we drove south. As we got close to Whangamata, the rain became heavier and showers came and went for the rest of the morning.

It was a slow drive because the road through the hills was was very windy. As usual, there were very few other cars on the road. At Whangamata, we stopped briefly at the beach to take a few photos. Once again, it was a white sandy beach with fascinating headlands and small rock islands out to sea.

The next stop was at Waihi Beach for more photos. By this time, we were ready for lunch as so we found a deli in the town of Waihi. Although the pies, sausage rolls and coffee were very nice, the service wasn't friendly. The lady behind the counter might have been having a bad day or perhaps she just doesn't like Australians. She seemed to be friendly to locals who came in after us. We felt as though we were an interruption to her day.

Suzy had researched the highlights last night and we stopped at Karangahake Gorge. The scenery here was very special. The road follows a stream in the valley with steep rocky cliffs on either side.

At the gorge, we decided to go on one of the walks. Access to the walk was via two narrow pedestrian-only suspension bridges that wobbled and swayed slightly as we walked across. Then the path took us up steps to see the areas where they used to quarry for gold. Remnants of the tram tracks and equipment are still there. Unfortunately the tunnel was closed because of recent rock falls.

Soon after leaving Karanganake, the road became flat and straight for a change. This gave me an opportunity to work out how the cruise controlled works on the Holden Cruze.

When we reached our B&B at Matamata, we were warmly welcomed by our hosts Kathleen and John. Their house is on one of many small properties on the outskirts of town. It used to be farming land and was divided into lots of one or two acres.

The guest accommodation is in a separate building next to their house. It is modern, spacious and has lots of character. It is a beautiful setting in fields of lush green grass. Alan and Kathleen are clearly good planners - everything shows a high degree of attention to details - from the layout of the buildings to every detail inside.

Kathleen rang Hobbiton to make a booking for us for a tour tomorrow morning and then brought us scones and chocolate cake for afternoon tea.

For dinner, we drove into the town of Matamata to a bar called The Redoubt. We'd decided to get there by about 7pm because we thought that restaurants around here would be closed by about 8pm as they were in Whitianga. I don't think we should have worried about rushing because it looked like this place would have been busy for hours.

I had the chicken pizza and Suzy had the spare ribs - both were very good. I decided to try the Amstel Light beer so I was OK to drive back to the B&B. The beer was passable but I'm sure their other beers would have been better.