End of Jill's trip. Our Coromandel travels and meeting up with family and friends.

Monday 27th January. Just had Win round for lunch. She hadn't seen the house with our furniture as we were "glamping" when she last visited. She has just come back from Melbourne and the Australian Tennis Open where she had seen quite a few of the stars. Good to catch up over a nice lunch of meat loaf, salad and garlic bread. Going out for lunch tomorrow as the weather is heating up so may end up at our favourite eatery in Papamoa Beach. Hopefully will be a bit cooler by the coast.

Tuesday 28th. Pete came to mow and does such a good job. It is well worth the money for us not having to deal with this huge amount of grass. Fish and chips out at the Blue cafe and last look at Papamoa Beach for Jill. Beautiful spot.

31st January . Took Jill to the airport and everything was fine. Great check in, wheelchair assist at the desk so great. Headed back down SH1/2 on way to The Coromandel. For those that have done the trip these pictures will remind you of how stunningly beautiful it is. Sadly as Lynn took this photo,

 the phone went and it was Wendy saying Rex had died in hospital that morning. I had had a text from Wendy yesterday saying he was very poorly and in hospital so I wasn't shocked by the news. He was 70 but had been in a bad way for sometime. I certainly will remember where I was when I heard the news.

Arrived at the Motel which is great. Then Lynn got a text from Jill, whilst she was on the plane, saying they had tried to land twice and were now going again for a third attempt! She was so scared. I tracked the QF146 flight on Plane Finder and it showed its previous two attempts and its holding circle and third approach. Agonizingly, we watched it lose speed and altitude on the app until it had landed.  That was the longest 7 minutes of our lives! Lynn WhatsApp ed her while they were still on the runway and there were tears all round. What a bloody awful day in the most beautiful of places.

Many phone calls and texts with the news of the day during the evening. Many welcome replies this morning when I woke up so thank you for that.
We had booked a trip today on The Driving Creek Railway which was one man’s mission for thirty years. 

Barry Brickell was a potter, environmentalist and train enthusiast and what started as a way of transporting clay from high on the Coromandel Ranges by building a single gauge railway line where he alone placed every piece of steel line and girders plus planting 27,000 native trees.......
is now one of the most famous single track railways in the world. OMG. LOOK IT UP!!
It is absolutely amazing. Rex would have loved the story. 

At the top he built a look out called the Eyefull Tower. For obvious reasons.........

Some of the wine bottles he and mates consumed over 33  years.

He built aqueducts over deep valleys and built tunnels with bricks he made in his kilns.... he was a real eccentric .......but a man on a mission. Amazing. When I emailed Carol Royle..... she had not only been there when last in NZ but had met Barry  in person. That was one of Carol's better oneupmanship stories! 

It is just outside Coromandel Town and is a must if you ever get up there.

Had e mail from Janice to say that John Richards, her ex husband and Karen's dad died. Not sure how that may affect their visit over to us in a fortnight.

Sat 2nd Feb and we moved over the top of the Coromandel to an Airbnb in Kuaotunu. It was free the day before so our hosts let us check in early. Met Hobbit (an ex Ealing hockey player) who is over here visiting Jan Martin (ex NZ hockey and Ealing) and  Robbie at Luke's Kitchen, the only restaurant in town. It was great to meet up with them because I have heard so much about Jan and Robbie from all the Ealing girls but she had left before I became involved in coaching them. Hobbit was flying to Queenstown to stay with Sarah and Jo....... over lunch some of Jan and Robbie's shared stories about Sarah's incredible appetite for punishing schedules drained the colour from Hobbit's face. The picture of Sarah (Jan had on her phone) snaring possums in her back garden to protect the veggies didn't ease the situation either! Good luck Hobbit!!!!

The Airbnb was absolutely lovely with breakfast included. lots of fruit, home grown tomatoes, bread, manuka honey, yoghurt, milk, water..... everything you could want. We said our farewells to H, J and R back at our place and they were all really impressed with our choice of accommodation. They headed off to Whitianga for one more night before returning to Auckland.

Sunday started off a bit dull after rain in the night so we set off to the Dunes restaurant for lunch at a golf club 8k down the road.

Bit of history thrown in about how the area developed through discovering gold. Fortunately, the afternoon weather cleared  and we we able to embark on our reason for being right up here which was to go to Opito Bay. This is the Bay featured in the picture hanging on our lounge wall which was purchased as the gift from LWGC members for our leaving present. Those of you that have paid attention to our story can find the picture in Blog 6. See how it compares to the real thing.

It is truly beautiful and worth  driving on a narrow gravel road with steep drops and no railings to see . Felt a bit sick at the height we climbed and some of the blind bends negotiated but overcame the feelings when we saw this sight.

Dotterels were nesting here.

Monday 4th Feb we headed off south via Whangamata, where my second cousin Annie lives with her husband Graeme. Last saw her at both Auntie Aud's 90th and her funeral four years later. No idea how long ago that was but we had a lot of catching up to do over a lovely lunch and view from their deck.

Late afternoon onto our last stop in Waihi Beach. Great little place and a trip to a restaurant called the Flatwhite really sealed an excellent trip. 

Graeme gave us a route home which was fantastic.... right alongside the Kaimai Ranges with long straight stretches of road. Trixie, our American sat nav, didn't like it and kept telling us to turn right at every opportunity. We ignored her and she had to reluctantly come with us to Tauranga.

The only thing I haven't mentioned is that poor Jill, after her terrible ordeal landing in a storm, or rather not landing, on her second night home fell in the night and broke her arm. She had an alarm button but Ambulance crew couldn't get in to her apartment  and she had to shuffle on her bottom to the door to let them in. She is in plaster and in a rehab hospital because she cannot use her walker. This was some trip........ full of sad news in the most beautiful part of the world. An absolute must for those intending to visit.

Haere Mai