Kiyomi and Ren's Excellent Adventures: Kiwi quirky

December 21 - Quirky Coromandel

The next day, we truly experienced some Kiwi quirkiness. It would seem that engineers run amock in Coromandel. Our first stop, Driving Creek Potteries and Railway. The simple story behind this is that a few years back, a rather eccentric Kiwi decided to become the first full time potter in NZ, so he bought a plot of land on the side a mountain in the Coromandel which happened to have really good clay in it and he set up a workshop, kilns, etc, and opened it up to other potters. A railway enthusiast, he set about setting up a narrow gauge railway in order to bring the clay off the mountain. Clearing dense native brush, scroughing for steal, laying tracks and even building a couple of tunnels and turn around points - he did it all himself. The project, however, seemed to keep growing and now, in 2011, it's a popular tourist attraction with a 25 minute train ride through native NZ forest that brings you up to a view station at the Eyefull Tower (I couldn't make that one up if I had wanted to). Along the way are little alcoves of pottery displays from potters who have worked over the years in the workshop - lizards on tress, collages on tunnel walls, statues peeking at you from the brush, peaceful scenes of characters resident along the tracks. It now exists as a non-profit organization whose purpose is to offer workspace for local and visiting potters and protect the native bush (they have even eradicated non-native species of rodents and plants). The bush is filled with Kauri, Silver Ferm and is a wonderful example of North Island nature. The potter who created it all lives in a small room about the workshop and, at 76, climbs up the path/stairs up the mountain and walks down the tracks to make sure all is in order.

The kids, of course, loved it. Ren in particular was in love. So much so, that when the train reached the top and everyone got out to climb the Tower, he insisted on staying beside the train and kept yelling up to everyone in the Tower - "Come on guys, let's go!"

But, the Kiwi quirkiness wasn't over yet. Our next stop was the Waterworks. This place could only be described as engineers run amok. It's an 'amusement' park I suppose, but not the traditional kind. The main theme is water powered amusements - mainly from a source that sits on the little mountain above the property. The amusements include some of the traditional things, like water cannons, but throw in a water spurting rocking horse, water connext (I don't know how else to describe it), a flying bicycle, a couple zip lines. Unlike anything you'd of this ilk that you'd experience in North America, there weren't any barriers or attendants, it was all self-serve. You wanted to go on the zip line, you pulled the rope up the path and you went. Definitely more of a laid back attitude overall here, and it comes through in places like this where the focus is more on having fun than litigation!

We ended the day by checking out Long Point Beach in Coromandel. Awesome tide pools. We managed to find sea anemones, star fish, all manner of barnacle, oysters, crabs and a plethora of shells. The kids jumped from rock to rock, looking to see what was in the next one, and the next one, and the next one, while the sun set off in the distance.

It's worth noting that we are now carting around about 10 pds of shells and rocks, and this would be the pared down collection. However, they have come in a little handy (more on that later).