Whangamata to Rotorua

Rotorua, the next destination, was about 145 miles from Whangamata so we decided to stop a time or two on the way and were rewarded by two very different but equally interesting places.

First stop en route was the town of Waihi, known as the Heart of Gold, as a result of the discovery of gold there in 1878 and the subsequent development of the town as the biggest producer of gold and silver in New Zealand. Production still takes place but vast amounts of earth have to be moved to produce small amounts of gold. What is really fascinating about the place is the hole from which this earth is moved, it is a huge pit that is less than 100 yards from the top of the main street. To stand above it is to look into the depths of the earth. A coffee stop after exploring the mine site and we were on our way.

Cornish Pump House Waihi

The Pit - see if you can spot the massive trucks

Sheila shows she's not scared of heights - Hang on to that bench

Bottom of the Pit
Pit Terracing

The next stop was the self styled Mural Town, Katikati. This was originally a settlement of Ulster folk and some where along the line the habit grew of producing murals all over the town reminiscent of the murals seen in modern Ulster cities though not presenting the same sort of subject matter that adorns the walls of Belfast. Interesting galleries and craft shops are to be found in and around the town. Another Sheila find of fat quarters and a fine second hand bookshop that only airline weight limits stopped me from emptying, were particular highlights.

Mural, Katikati

Nice to read the paper

Mural, Katikati

Staircase, Katikati

Arriving in Rotorua we had a pleasant walk and then the search for a restaurant. We headed in the direction of town searching for a place beginning with an ‘E’ ( or so said Sheila) and eventually found it, it was called Capers.

Back to our hotel to meet our first potential disaster of the trip. One of our party, wanting to recharge a camera battery, discovered that there was no camera in the bag. This precipitated a frantic hour where the car was searched and every bag emptied to locate the camera, with no luck at all. What next? A search of yellow pages to try and locate the name of the coffee shop in Waihi, the last place where either of us could remember seeing the camera, with no luck. Down to the hotel reception and an internet search by the receptionist failing to come up with a café name that struck any chord in the failing memory. Then a little bit of inspiration, internet card purchased, tapped into Google Earth and discovered that the town in question had Street View. A simple search produced the picture that solved our problem and having discovered the café name it was easy to find a telephone number to contact the next morning.

A breakfast phone call established that the camera was indeed back in Waihi, so off I went to collect it while Sheila spent some time getting to know Rotorua. A different day.