Sunny Coromandel

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 554, 5 January 1929, Page 6

Sunny Coromandel

AUCKLAND’S NEW PLAYGROUND

Over the Hill to Whitianga

WITH the gradual improvement of the motor roads ol liu district, Auckland is discovering a new playground the Coromandel peninsula. At least, it is a playground accessible from a new angle Hitherto only yachtsmen and launch parties have had tin freedom of its delightful havens.

'J'HIS summer has seen the completion, as a secondary motor route, o£ the Tapu-Coroglen Road, which offers to motorists the finest combination of mountain and forest scenery obtainable anywhere in the North Island. Subject to the somewhat grudging concessions of the weather, it is now possible to do a grand round trip from Tapu to Coromandel, over the range to Whitianga, and back by the new road to Tapu. Every mile discloses some fresh feature in a district full of charm, and the opening of the new road means that, in a trip from Thames to Whitianga, only the 12-

mile section between Thames and Tapu has to be traversed twice. Attracted by reports of pleasant nooks and corners, many motorists have in past years made excursions to the western coast of the Coromandel. Their excursions have not often taken them past Coromandel, for the reason that the road demanded careful driving and steady nerves. It is now improved, and the. pilgrimage to Whitianga has begun. All along the western shore, in this, as in former holiday seasons, a fringe of summer camps extends along the string of little bays. Many people from the Waikato district make this the scene of their annual seaside holiday. Places like Tapu, Puru and Waikawau, among others, shelter a substantial, if transient, population; and the white sides of canvas dwellings show cheerily through the trees. In one quiet estuary rest the rusting hones of the ferry-steamer Eaglet, a reminder of the days when competition for the suburban traffic on the Auckland Harbour was keener and hotter than it is to-day. Coromandel township is reached over a couple of lofty spurs. The road climbs to a high elevation, and looks down over a glorious picture of serene islands and silver lanes of

water. The quaint hamlet, iu which mining is still actively pursued, consists largely of the relics of former glory. It has great hopes of the tourist traffic —hopes "which were given substance these holidays, when the hoary hotels were packed with trippers, many held up by the wet weather, which made the Whitianga Road impassable. One road from Coromandel thrusts straight north, past Amodeo Bay and Colville, until It edges across the spurs of Mount Moehau to Port Chai-les. where it has Great Mercury and Cuvier Island off shore, and the Barrier looming across a few insignificant miles of sea.

UNDER CASTLE ROCK The other road, to Whitianga, strikes east. It passes under the shadow of the curious dissected summit, Castle Rock, which dominates the Coromandel landscape. On slender ledges above a frothing torrent, it ascends the range and then winds down in a long valley to Whitianga. Even as a secondary road, it is not by any means good, and the jaded city motorist will find that it answers all the requirements of his adventurous soul. Whitianga—or Mercury Bay, as obstinate Goyernment departments insist on calling it —is the perfect holiday place, unspoiled. On the shimmering horizon, between the islands that guard the gates of the harbour, may be seen the launches of the sword fishermen, very far away. Buffalo Beach, where the man o’ war Buffalo was cast ashore in 1840, is a beautiful stretch of sand. But there is an equally good surf beach at Whitianga’s hack door; and if further attractions were needed, there is a fine new hotel at the water’s edge, and the magnetic presence of Mr. Zane Grey, complete with slow-motion camera, somewhere in the offing.

The beauty spots round Whitianga are legion. There are roads marked green on the A.A.A. maps. Their emerald tint pays them no compliment; bift they are worth trying if the sun is high. One of them may take the questing traveller to Whangapoua, where an enterprising lady is breeding polo ponies that will rival the Maltese Cat. Another road of many ruts will take him south to Coroglen, across landlocked mangrove channels, and through a series of scarlet cuttings that doubtless have some interest for geologists. A troublesome ford on the Coroglen-Tapu road has been eliminated by the construction of a bridge over Five-mile Creek. The first car. Auckland-owned and driven, crossed the bridge in triumph last Sunday, while a local identity of 24 years’ standing waited beside his shack to give its passengers a letter to post in Thames. They fulfilled the mission, after surmounting the crest of a precipitous forest-clad range. Mighty kauri trees, monarchs of the mountain-side, occur all along the l'oad. It is a region of bewildering beauty, with lantastic gnarled peaks raising their heads through the vistas of tall timber.

And lastly, as the road emerges on to the western slope, there is a wide panorama of the Hauraki Gulf, with old Rangitoto, lifting his shoulders above the far horizon, giving the Aucklander a sense o? home. J.G.M.