Saturday, 20 December 2014

Coromandel, December 21st 2014

Grey skies, thick cloud blanketing the hills: it’s like the Lake District, Rob lamented.  And then a small patch of blue sky appeared, and pushed and shoved at the clouds until the whole sky was blue, blue, blue – and Rob was a very happy man again.  He went off for a walk, and I stayed behind because I’ve been bitten (again!  As usual!) this time on my foot, and walking hurts (grrr!).  But there are worse things to do than sit on a veranda, looking at an amazing view and drinking tea, so it’s only a small complaint.
In the afternoon, Rob drove me to the lovely beach he’d walked to in the morning, and we sat there looking at the blue sky, blue sea and sunshine, occasionally (and rather smugly) reflecting on the fact that it would be the shortest day at home, and here was in fact the longest day.  “I can feel the light levels going up,” has been one of Rob’s frequent phrases – which makes a nice change from “It’s a natural disaster!” as the night comes down at four pm.
Today’s culture has been a visit to Coromandel Museum, featuring a lot of rock samples, some amazingly accurate scales that cost £22 back in 1880 or thereabouts, and some scary pictures showing the scale of Kauri forest logging that went on at the end of the 19th century. And these trees take forever to grow.

Tomorrow, we’re off to Christchurch, so it’s back along the Mr-Bond-I-think-you-have-made-a-big-mistake road and then to Auckland airport and an internal flight to Christchurch – Rob keeps saying I can’t buy too many books, or we’ll be overweight on our baggage!

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