Today the sun did not shine!
But, as it wasn’t actually raining, we went off up along the 309 –
another James Bond style road – to see some of the sights there. Like a waterfall, where we discovered all
sorts of fascinating optical illusions: if you watch the water going down the
fall for a while and then focus on the bark of a nearby tree, then it looks
like the tree is growing before your eyes.
Totally Dr Who style stuff.
Next stop along the road was a Kauri grove: massive trees
that at 600 years old, still only look mature rather than ancient, unlike 600
year old oak or yew trees do.
After lunch, not only was the sun not shining, but it was
beginning to mizzle with rain, which meant that going to see the stamper
battery was a) a good idea, as it was all indoors and b) didn’t feel like a
waste of lovely outdoor weather. The guy
who does the tour and talk is a geologist. Which means I was expecting a sort of bearded
academic enthusiast, with a touch of introversion, perhaps.
Beard: tick.
Academic: tick.
Enthusiast: tick.
Introversion: totally untick.
The guy could have given Brian Cox a run for his money in
the presenter stakes, and Billy Conolly a run for his money in the stand-up
comedian stakes. Actually, he mentioned
Billy Conolly more than once, so I suspect I know where some of his style came
from.
Masses of geological facts, lots of jokes about the
Australians and Australia (all at their expense) and quite a bit of mining on
the Coromandel history – it was all very lively and entertaining. As for the 1 hour tours – well, he had no
more sense of timing than a Welsh preacher with the Spirit moving him. Not something to go to if you’re on a tight
schedule, but really interesting if you’re not clock watching.
Later on, it poured – stotting off the roof and streaming
out of the gutters in a totally tropical way.
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