Rotorua to Coromandel – the tourist’s road towards Auckland

In the meantime Ines and Tobias did spend their day in Rotorua first in a park and later in the local bath to have a swim. As I picked them up late from the bath I saw how strange and by far not appealing this location was... Once again a very touristic village of low appeal that will not be on the list of future visits.

We left Rotorua this afternoon to drive north west towards Coromandel Peninsula. Around three hours on dark rainy roads. NI got better from day to day… 

Some days ago we managed to book one of the last affordable bachs on the south west side of the peninsula. We found a charming small bach in Tairua, not far from the main touristic-reasons to visit Coromandel: Cathedral Cove, seascapes and the 309 road. 

We had to book the bach via bachcare.co.nz as most of the cottages on the peninsula are managed via this company. The whole process via bachcare is embarrassing: you have to pay a fee of 30NZ$ independent of the nights booked, there is a high cleaning bond of something around 200NZ$ and you get pretty much bombed with e-mails and calls from the central booking and the local management. The cleaning bond by itself is ok but it puts pressure on you and the offer from bachcare to have the cottage cleaned for you without mentioning the price is just kind of rip off and not legitimate.

The bach was reasonable cheap, modern, had a freaky stove that turned on by itself, a smoke detector that woke us loudly 3am, we had hundreds of ants indoors and a useful heating was missing. Judging from the German sockets and IKEA-stile tools it was owned by a German.

Besides that, during our booking and stay the local management was kicked out due to some unknown reasons. This caused extra confusion.

Traveler’s advice: book directly, do not book via bachcare! In the future I would go even so far not to travel to a place if I could not avoid this company. Bachcare seems to be more focused to NI – hopefully it will remain like this during the current century.

Besides all these downsides the bach had a nice view over the sound and Tairua, was quietly located up on the hill and had just the right size for us three. Tobias practiced crawling the steep stairs up and down and up again. We had a close look at him or helped him as the stairs were a little bit exposed…

In the morning we drove north towards Hahei to walk the short walk down to the famous Cathedral Cove. A sandy beach with a natural arch / cave (therefore cathedral?) and a distinctive shaped rock. We enjoyed the relatively few tourists on the beach beyond the arch, the sun and the sandy beach. Tobias and I had short dips in the not too chilly water. Some pictures with high contrast from the inside of the cave and the sunny beach.

It was already afternoon as we left the beach and headed back to the car. Next stop was the famous 309 road, a road – unpaved (adventure! ; ) ) – which leads from the east to the west of the peninsula. Back before the first visit to NZ four years ago I marked this rode physically in the map and mentally in my brain as one of the "landmarks" to visit in NZ. The road is supposed to be famous for: 309 manuka honey, a waterfall, some water works and its unpaved nature in the middle of the woods. Highly fascinating! At least that was what I thought to expect back then before the first visits to NZ. First stop was the honey shop where we bought 7 glasses (actually the glasses were plastic jars, perfect for international transport) of honey and had a nice talk with the real queen of the bees (the female human owning the business). There are some special types of the manuka honey that are proven to have antibiotic power. These types are much more expensive and taste not better than the cheaper conventional manuka honey.

We continued to follow the road turn by turn - rather uninspiring, to finally reach falls of the Waiau River. Nice falls close to the road. Perfect later afternoon light. Several pictures. Definitely a place for a detour. Funny was that the road literally bored us, we had enough of unpaved roads and we had roads that were much more tempting, inspiring and remote. So after that visit and a few more meters Ines formulated my thoughts in words: what about to turn around and be back at the cottage early. 

Dawn was not far away and the village of Coromandl on the west side of the peninsula at night could be neglected for now. So we turned round and drove back to our home in Tairua. This night we had the famous lamp chops for the last time on the island! As the electric indoor stove was far too weak to handle a frying pan and in addition had some erratic performance, I set up the approved camp stove and we fried the beloved lamb chops outside on the porch. Again they tasted fine. Sorry for not remembering the accompanying wine...

Next morning was pain in the ass as we had to clean the cottage and absolutely wanted to have the bond back. Later the local management lady came and received the key and she had to listen to my long list of complaints. Weeks later we received the bond back.

We left Coromandl heading west and then up the coast north towards Auckland. The first kilometers through the plains of the Waihou River were just boring. In a small village at the East Coast road we had a decent fish burger lunch giving us power for the remaining kilometers towards Auckland. The last kilometers on rural roads… Farewell wild landscapes and nature... Gona miss you!

 

Coromandl made a strong impression on me in terms of beeing the weekend destination of Auckland. Lots of bachs at rather high prices, lots of urbanization and tourists. Again comparing the limited impression we got from the peninsula as on the the highlights of the North Island to the South Island I would have no headache to skip it for other options.

Let's see what Auckland can offer.

Winding road towards the steam

The following lines and posts are written with the journey already some weeks ago. So details might be mixed up and impressions more reflected or more biased. Happy reading!

This time the accompanying wine is a Krapez Merlot 2004 from Slovenia (!). Delicious! 

 

 

There was a promising line on the map that would save us some winding kilometers going up north west towards Lake Waikaremoana. We crossed this dirty river for the last time to follow the Erepeti Road, later the Ohuka Road (all dirt) and finally the to figure out that the intended road towards the west was pretty much not useable as it ran over private farmland and was more like a route than a road. Nevertheless the landscape for the first time on NI became more eye-pleasing. But it was still far from eye candy… 

We drove up the Waikaretaheke River towards Lake Waikaremoana. The river looked most attracting but based on JK it’s not worth a try. Still there might be fish in. The foliage was nicely autumn colored as it was during the last days. Autumn could really no longer be neglected or ignored; in addition the weather was cloudy with some sunny patches. 

We reached the lake Waikaremoana. A lake that was very remote now in autumn, but might see considerable traffic in summer. We followed the dirt road around its winding east shore, passed a terrific water fall (Mokau Stream?) and continued the road curve by curve by curve – it was green bush left and right of the dirt road and very windy. 

No unfortunately we did not camp close by in the campground but followed this dame northbound dirty snake in the bush called raod. All bush, nature – but I was sick of it. Tobias was rather noisy, my leg hurt from long hpurs of driving and I wanted to end this asap…. Fast fowrad, some hours later we passed a settlement in the middle of the bush, another hour later we passed the small village Murupara and had a stop there. I forgot why. We wanted to accomplish the last leg towards Rotorua where we arrived well after dark. After some research and search we found a decent motel right on the main road. We had a simple dinner and took a late night family dip in the hot spa on our porch. 

The Lake Waikaremoana and the surrounding Urewera NP might definitely have some appeal. At that day it was just pain in the ass, as there was no option to fish and the landscape nature was ok but by far not new or impressing (besides the water fall that I really liked).

Rotorua is famous for its hundreds of fumaroles, geysers and hot springs. The village is based on tourism. Nothing more nothing less. The close by lake is just a lake. The geyser areas around are all pretty much similar, if you have seen one you have seen all. We chose the Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland. We walked all the accessible tracks there and where deeply impressed by a group of ladies which where fishing for gas bubbles that did rise from the base of one of the largest hot springs. This looked even more contemplating than carp fishing. It might be the next trend sport after extreme-GT-blanking (freely adopted from “Only the river knows”). Ok serious now: The Thermal wonderland is ok, but you might possibly be disappointed after you have seen Yellowstone. 

      

   

After that touristic program we drove a couple of kilometers south west towards one of the Broadlands spring creeks close by. Before the fly fishing reader gets a stroke due to excitement: these creeks are very very difficult to access. We reached a bridge over one of the creeks I figured out, at least to have a look at. A perfect stretch of water, weeds, eddies and some room for the back cast due to the crossing street. I had to rig my rod and have a go right away standing on the street. It took a while and a few casts till one of the rising fish came to my adams. Ines helped to net it from the steep bank. Just a small rainbow (?) of something around 2-3lbs. Nice! There was another fish rising around +18meters upstream right in a narrow section of the creek close to a willow bush. I was fixed and could not move as the bank was too steep/swampy. I did cast again and gain but always there where two meters or precision missing. All the time watching if a truck was approaching on the road that I would have caught on the back-cast. Several casts later I got a rise from the targeted fish but it did not stick to the fly… A nice intermezzo on this creek with a nice rainbow on the sky and one on the fly. Tobias was sleeping during the fishing in the Prado and slowly woke up so we drove back towards Rotorua. There we had an afternoon cappuccino on the playground right on the lake and another night in the terrific motel.

The next day I wanted to catch the last fish of the trip and headed back towards the spring creek area from the day before. Actually these Broadland Creeks are much closer towards Lake Taupo than to Lake Rotorua. Parked on the road close to the first creek I wanted to give a try and crossed over the paddocks towards the mouth of the creek on the Waikato river. I started fishing right on the mouth and walked out on the bank just to get stuck in the gumbo. Quickly sinking in the dirt up to the knees, I could just get out and back to the bank. Mmm I should be more carefully on the next try. There were several rather small fish laying in the current. It was rather obvious that these pre-spawning trout would be hard to entice. After a couple of minutes a man came through the bushes and thorns with his fighting dog wearing a muzzle on a short leash. We had a friendly conversation about the creek. He was a Scotsman who relocated some years ago. His strong accent was obvious. It turned out that he did not only fly fish the creek but once in a while would use a threadline. I did not understand the reason to fish a spring creek C&R with a spinner or spoon. But after fishing and thorn bashing this creek, loosing and recovering my net in the thorns I got the point that fishing this creek is a challenge (there is a cut track on the right bank some meters away from the creek that ends around thirty meters away from the road, thus access from the mouse and then crossing might be the best option to fish it). Very limited casting space, thorns and at that time fish that were just not interested. I fished / walked up to the road and left the place without a fish to my hands. The water was rather low but still silty due to irrigation.

After a brief detour via another spring creeks mouth (again very limited access due to private land), I relocated to the spring creek from the day before. Again I had a few casts on the road-pool from the day before but the good fish rising was just out of my reach. After some consideration back and force I tried a couple of times to wade the creek – but right beside the firm bank it was very deep (+1,8 meters) and I would be immediately at maximum wading depth. Combined with current, rather swampy ground and vertical banks of 1,5 meters wading was no real option. Every time I tried to get out of the creek testing its wade ability my hands got some additional cuts from the rough grass. So I crossed the paddocks to follow the creek further upstream to a piece of water that looked accessible based on google satellite images. It was semi accessible: again high or rather swampy bank. 

To my surprise I pretty much instantly spotted a fish and did not spook it. Must have tried and Adams or a Royal Coachman. The fish came and after a while it came to the net. A Rainbow of around 3lbs. I knew that this fish would pretty likely be the last fish of the trip. At least the last fish was caught on NI. A few more casts to irregular rising fish in the distance but nothing more. 

For the last time of this trip I turned around and walked back over the paddocks, crossed the fences, reached the car, disassembled the rod, got out of my wading gear and left the creek behind me.

The fly fishing end of this terrific trip!

North Island is different – an ‘Eco Retreat’ that had mouse and cockroaches

During the last days part of the NI got a good share of rain, so did the Ruakituri valley. The river was rather high but still fishable. The weather forecast during the rather unstable last weeks pretty much changed every day, thus a prognosis of some rain could mean sever rain and flooded rivers or sunshine and no rain at all. Besides that the prognosis for following days was altered pretty much daily. We finally did not give too much about the forecast at all. The rain was supposed to be ok for the next days with only minor rainfall. After a good and quiet first night in the wooden castle I headed off to fish the river. Ines and Tobias stayed in the castle to have a relaxed day. It was raining very slightly once in a while, more like a drizzle or spell. I checked the first access a few kilometers upstream and was just shocked: what was that kind of river?! Dirty, colored looking, foam lines from stock runoff, grey sandy slimy rocks – to be honest I did absolutely not like what I saw. After fishing pristine clear rivers for month down south, this contrast was even worse than expected. I considered my options (accept it or leave) and my again increasing fish fever. The best bet would be to drive as far upstream as possible and to start there. 

I did exactly that and drove up to the last station in the valley. Asking for permission at the station to fish up from their property towards the bush and towards the National Park. A couple of hundred meters below a place called Lockwood the river showed a small rapid/step with faster flowing water. Despite of the tea stained water I spotted a fish from the car. So I set up my rod and crossed over the current well down below to have a go. Crossing was funny as estimating the depth was hard with this river coloration. The stones where much more slippery than in the Bolivian jungle where felt and studs are recommended. Did I catch a fish in that run? Might be I can’t remember, I think so, but it was a small one. Blind fishing was not my preferred way so I still tried to cast to sported fish. Hard business because spotting them was most of the time not before I was very close up. The river showed long deep runs with the odd pool/riffle structure in between. Further upstream these riffles became more frequent thus providing more opportunities to fish for structure. To my surprise I hooked fish fishing a chunky rubber legged size 10 or 12 dark brownish nymph. The hooked fish were stunning because of their strength and fighting habit, airtime, long powerful runs. My laziness in terms of seldom running behind the fish (it just looks so bizarre) did not pay now. I lost these eager crazy fighters of something around 4 to +5lbs more or less close to the net most of the time – my fault, the leader did not break, just the (barbless) fly came out under tension. So to land fish here it might be better to follow the wild running trout once in a while. Ruakituri trout are very well known for their strength and you might lose a high share of fish there. Finally I managed to land one fish – or the fish landed himself. Fishing a riffle where there river was just a couple of meters wide, I hooked one on the far side of the main current that pretty much motor-boated itself within seconds over the main current right to my feed. I just picked the net and netted it. A dark thick brown of something around 4lbs. I was laughing out very loud. What a crazy take and landing. A not sharp picture and off it went… 

After some more casts I turned around to walk back to the car following some sheep tracks and finally a farm track up high on the bank. I did not see or hook any of the legendary big Ruaki trout but the fishing was ok and crazy at times. Five decent fish hooked for the half day actually fished. All on nymph semi-blind. Further up the river, closer to the National Park and beyond the falls the river is said to gain and it might even be clearer after a longer period of sun. Might be. But this river did not appeal me enough to put it on the list for future excursions.

Driving back to the family the rain started. I was lucky because during the afternoon fishing there was close to no rain at all. I felt sorry for Ines and Tobias staying close to the castle all the day. For the next day I proposed to do some family excursion. Family wise this was the right proposal, fishing and weather wise it was the worst decision. But step by step.

Before I turn to the family day here is an anecdote of the second evening at the castle. Ines saw a small mouse in the kitchen, so I intended to catch and kill it. I prepared a trap with a half water filled pot, a board up the pot and some bait hanging just in the middle of the water filled pot. So in case the mouse wanted to reach the bait – edam cheese – she would have to reach far, lean over and probably fall in the water. The bait was attached to a meter of 8lbs leader and the lower half of my fishing rod. Later that evening I saw the mouse running under the oven. I picked the rod with the cheese and placed the cheese a few centimeters before the oven. It took less than a minute and the nosy mouse came out and tried to grab the cheese. Thus I tried to lead her up the ramp to the deadly mouse pool – the mouse was just centimeters before the deadly ledge – she became suspicious and turned around. Not fainthearted I reconsidered my plans and wanted to have quick success: next try I lead here out to the piece of carpet at the entrance door that was right there and it needed just one or two well-placed beats with the rod and the mouse was dead. I was slightly disappointed that this hunt was already over. In my mind I already had some pictures of a hook with some cheese and a decent mouse fight.

This was the only rod-induced kill during the whole time in NZ!

Next day we drove to some off the beaten track hot springs / hot pools around 1 ¼ hours away to the east. Pastoral land all over, some hills, not bad but not ‘attractive’. With some of these remote settlements we asked our self if we could live in such a remote place and what would we do. A bewildering thought. The hot pools were within one of the very last sections of all natural jungle forest which was typical for this eastern part of NI before the second run of settlers came (as first settlers I consider the Maori). This fascinating jungle was dense with fern trees – close to impassable. Mankind did deforest various landscapes e.g. parts of the Mediterranean coast to gain wood, Scotland to feed sheep, currently the rain forests all over the globe to feed the greed for soy and meat and some decades back large parts of New Zealand to feed humans and sheep. 

We had an extended session in the hot pools at Morere Hot Springs with temperatures between something of around +30°C up to 40°C. Tobias loved it and even he reduced his movements in the hot water and always wanted to go to the cold pool of around 10°C to cool off. I love, that he loves water. He got used to water early by regular visits to the ‘baby swim lesson’ and the baby pool with Ines. 

After this hot water soaking session we continued towards Gisborn to drive another way back than we did to go to the pools. Gisborn was again one of these villages where you can get lost searching a cup of cappuccino. We did so many turns trough the center that I was afraid to get caught over by the local police. Finally we ended up at a McCafe because of their ‘nice’ stinky indoor playground! (Some readers know how much I dislike McDonalds), as every other café was closed. Cafes in NZ most of the time close around 5pm and some even at 4pm. Funny thing – the time where we normally tend to go for a coffee the cafes close in NZ. But most of the shops (besides large supermarkets) close around 5pm. 

Going back to the castle we arrived again at dark. As we had a chimney in the living room (that was not lighted for some time) and the castle was rather cool we started a nice fire that provided some pleasure. Later that night the rain set in and it rained pretty much the whole night. Not the best situation for my plans to fish the other day. Getting up in the morning it was clear that the river was not fishable. It rose up to +95 cumecs and was dirty brown, it is fishable below something of 20 and good at around 6 cumecs, the spate it had the day we arrived was something around 30 cumecs. Thus we only had one option: leave this place as the river might need at least two days to come down again. Bad luck. We skipped the fourth and last paid night and the castle. The landlord aka owner did never answer to my very friendly request (it was more a proposal) to consider to transfer some money back for the not used fourth night. An impolite and unacceptable behavior. To sum it up: a highly regarded river, that runs tea colored or dirty most of the year, a very unattractive river valley and river structure, ‘Eco Retreat’ (spells: rotten & outdated) accommodation with mouse and cockroaches and a semi-friendly landlord. The best ingredients to avoid that place and to express it more explicit: this river. There is one other decent accommodation in the valley - some kind of fake lodge or upscale B&B. In case you stay there, hit the river at very good condition and combine this with a camp-out up beyond the falls - then you might have the basis for some good fishing days. 

We left this valley and went north-west.