An early Christmas in mighty Waikato

The combination of a rough plan and a dose of luck saw us arrive in Hamilton, Waikato, home to some great friends, in time for an early Christmas celebration. Not only did we have a fabulous Christmas with them including all the trimmings – roast dinner, presents to open, Mariah Carey, Love Actually etc – but the aforementioned friends also have an apartment by the beach on the Coromandel coast. After a few weeks in a campervan the change of scene and friendly faces were extremely welcome – many thanks.

Seeing spectacular glow worms by kayak

Amazing

Dessa

We were all excited when our friends suggested we all go kayaking to see glow worms in their natural habitat while we floated by. That said, we didn’t know what to expect. Perhaps a few distant and dim twinkling lights scattered around the darkness? How often have we been to zoos where the sole tiger always seems to be taking a nap at the back of their large cage, out of sight?

The omens were good as a biblical rain storm that had descended on us just moments before we arrived at the banks of the Waikato River magically cleared up as we started to get ourselves kitted out. The biblical theme continued as we paddled out in our double kayaks, two by two, and made way across and downstream to the opposite bank. There we entered the mouth of the Pokaiwhenua tributary and paddled a short distance upstream between what felt like towering cliffs that loomed over us. Combined with the trees and ferns that adorned them this created a shaded damp microclimate.

We emerged into the fading daylight and went ashore where we pulled the kayaks up while shin-deep in mud. (The preceding days had been very wet). A campfire brought better news as wine, cheese, marshmallows and digestives appeared from the kayaks. This was Jim’s kind of trip. Rafe and Dessa loved getting stuck in playing host toasting marshmallows and smoking cheese for everyone.

With the festivities over and darkness having descended it was time to regain the kayaks and head back through the gorge. This time though we were greeted by the most spectacular display of glow worms, infinitely greater in number and brighter than any of us had ever imagined they would be. There were plenty of them, some in groups from low down to quite high up the rock walls continuing for a good five minutes of paddling. Apparently the glow worms appreciate the ideal conditions in this gorge – almost totally enclosed from above so it is very dark, while there are plenty of flies to be captured in their dangling webs.

An unforgettable evening seeing the glow worms from the water.

Rain doesn’t matter in Whangamata

Whangamata is the surf capital of the Coromandel, home of sea, sun and a legendary annual vintage car rally. It is the sort of place where it is forbidden to photograph or video in anything other than sepia tones. Footwear other than flipflops (known locally as jandles) are confiscated at the city limits. One walks down the street accompanied by the Beach Boys.

It hasn’t rained in Whangamata in the summer since 1981, but when we were there we made up for it. Horizontal rain for almost the entire time we were there. But this didn’t hold us back from adventures, not a bit of it. There is no better time to be in the sea than during a squall (n.b. the Coastguard probably disagrees), so we were in the sea most days, swimming against the cross-beach rip tide. We gathered several local geocaches during intrepid outings.

One morning we awoke to news on Coromandel FM that there had been multiple landslides with several important roads closed. All the beaches were un-lifeguarded and closed to swimming, to the extent the presenter said “definitely a day to park the boat and stay inside”. It was on this morning Rafe and Jim decided to cross the estuary on an open kayak to seek out a tempting geocache on the hill opposite. In we went armed with nothing more than a paddle, a dry bag containing a single cereal bar and a couple of hats, and oodles of enthusiasm.

We quickly realised that the kayak was deeply unstable with Rafe sat on the foredeck, and so obviously the only thing for it was for Rafe to swim alongside. As we approached a third of the way across we began to enter the main tidal flow, which was unusually strong propelled by the storm surge. Now, Rafe is a strong swimmer and Jim a strong paddler, but both began to struggle to make progress in the right direction. It was around the marker signalling the start of the central shipping channel that we decided that discretion was the better part of valour and turned for the home bank and safety; we were close to transitioning from a bit of harmless madcap fun to being the subject of a rescue item on the news, or an instructional video on what not to do. There was a certain air of inevitability about the situation. Unknown to us on the water, a local boater had already pulled up in his ute to ask our shore-based support team if the madmen needed help. We made it back minus a geocache, but happy we had at least tried.

Dried off and warm, that evening we went to the war memorial hall where the Whangamata Community Trust had laid on a Christmas Grotto with a forest of decorated trees, carol singers and a Santa handing out candy canes. This really got the kids in the Christmas spirit and finally convinced Dessa that there was a good chance Santa would find her even though she was on the other side of the world from where she normally is.

We had a great time in Whangamata. As a bonus, we travelled through Paeroa which is home to the legendary (world famous in New Zealand, as they proclaim) lemon fizzy drink. Introduced to this nectar the kids have drunk it whenever available since.

Harvesting berries for the pavlova

Berry-laden pavlova is a Christmas tradition in New Zealand, and one to be applauded. Coincidentally Dessa had spotted a flyer for a pick your own farm the moment we landed in Auckland. So off we all went one morning to Whatawhata Berry Farm and got stuck in to picking the berries, helped by the announcement that we could also eat as many as we liked along the way. Fresh fruit ice creams (where the frozen fruit is mixed on the spot with the base ice cream, not something we have seen elsewhere) topped off a thoroughly enjoyable morning.

The best fish and chips in the world is on Raglan quayside!

After a refreshing dip in the estuary at Raglan to celebrate the day after our early Christmas, we were treated to Snapper and Chips (plus the aforementioned L&P of course) sat on a bench on the end of the quay as the evening drew in. Nothing but the sound of family and great friends crunching on batter to compete with the expectant seagulls. Difficult to beat.