RETURN TO THE COROMANDEL

After our 3 weeks in the south island and time in Northlands, we had just enough time left to go back and revisit some places in the Coromandel as well as go to some new places .

Thames Butterfly and Orchid Garden:
We'd passed it every time we drove into Thames and back, but it wasn't until Matt and Jenny came to visit us one Saturday at Te Puru, and enjoyed their visit to see the butterflies, that we decided to call in too.

There are over 7,000 brightly-coloured butterflies in the hothouse!

Click on the video below to get an impression of the butterflies flying around you.

Whitianga:

The day, weeks previously, when we'd taken our boat trip to Cathedral Cove (see previous blog), we'd spent some time in Whitianga, and wanted to see it again. Captain Cook had stopped here in 1769, so that his party of scientists could observe Mercury passing across the face of the sun, and had consequently, named Mercury Bay.

We took the passenger ferry from Ferry Landing one evening and crossed over to Cooks Beach......

......where we had a delicious dinner at a quirky restaurant-cum-art gallery called Eggcentric: http://www.eggsentriccafe.co.nz/

Fishing:

The next morning, back at Whitianga, Steve hired a kayak and set off fishing in the harbour.

He had a great time but didn't catch anything, unfortunately..........

.....but a few days later, back in Te Puru, took out Nick's kayak......

....and caught this Kawahai.  It's a fish that has to be bled as soon as it is caught, to keep the meat white and tasty, so it was headless by the time he got it back and this photo was taken. We cut it into steaks and barbequed it that night. Delicious!!