The long winding roads of Thames under the dehydrating heat of New Zealand's endless 2013 summer have taken a toll on me on our way to Whitianga. This is on top of the drama over the uncertainty whether we left the stove on at home. We called neighbors and fidgeted, waited for anyone to respond to us in a 2-hour stressful period. At last someone told us our house was not on fire and turned of the main switch outside our home. So the journey began.
We worked in Whitianga library on the first day. It's great that the library offered free and fast internet. We had to be considerate and only stayed 2 hrs because there are other tourists and locals who may need our seats. We then continued working until wee hours in the morning in our hotel room at Admiralty Motel - known as Whitianga's best and only 5 star accommodation. This Coromandel Motel is impressively new and spacious. We stayed in a studio unit, which seemed like 50 sqm. We had wide balcony looking over the motel's pool and right across us is Buffalo bay. The view is vast and I was awestruck. I was lucky to see the bay in several different situations - bright blue skies reflected on the blue waters in the afternoon, orange purplish hues by sunset and a cloudy stormy show with streaks of sunlight at sunrise.
We left early next day and took a couple of hours to trek the Cathedral Cove. I remember this walk as the best walk and happiest walk in New Zealand. It's a feeling that you know for sure that you're going to see something spectacular at the end of the journey -- although the journey itself was majestic. Below is a photo of the view while on the track.
It must have been about 60 steps down when we reached the cove. Yes it was spectacular. We shared this view with at least about 80 tourists - young and old - all smiling, all excited. I guess that was part of the charm. I felt so much energy and happiness from people around me. Unlike any other walks in NZ, this walk had people. There was a lot of commotion at the parking lot, 45 mins walk away. There was close to 30 cars parked and we almost didn't get to find a parking space.
Just a mere 10 minutes drive from the cove is Mercury Estate. Below is our photo enjoying 4 of their 15 wine varieties. We chose chardonnay, rose, pinot noir 10 and merlot. All wines were a delight to our senses and their flavors exploded with the different types of dips and sides we ordered. Bear with me, I must list this down. There were 4 types of bread - whites and oats and whole grain. I am not sure if they are home-made. There was ground spice - composed perhaps of local macademia nuts and spice. Black olives. Locally made spicy onion chutney. Sun-dried tomatoes. Local olive oil. Some slices of meat - salami? Smoked tuna and mussels from the bay - local products. Three types of cheeses - blue and some cheddar and one which I didn't really like. And fruit! Fresh kiwis - dried apricots - candied figs. The wine tasting episode was a fantastic way to end the 2 hour trek. The music was calming and sweet. The price? Very reasonable. You'd forget you paid because you got so much more than what you paid for :-) www.mercurybayestate.co.nz
No comments:
Post a Comment