Whangamata

The current hot button issue concerning the Coromandel Peninsula is the government’s proposal to allow mining here. “No Mining” signs are everywhere. Once known for gold mining, these days the peninsula is known almost exclusively for recreation and tourism.

Whangamata is a resort town situated on a long, wide, curving stretch of white sand beach on the Pacific Ocean. Bounded by a harbour on one end and by a river on the other, the beach is easily walked from one end to the other in under an hour. The views from the beach are stunning featuring bush covered, offshore, uninhabited islands and rocky sea stacks. It is also known as a decent surfing beach. During off season, Whangamata is a ghost town of about 4,000 people. During high season, the population swells to over 40,000 when every (now empty) vacation house is full.

Our new house turned out to be a cheerfully decorated, cute, little L-shaped bungalow. Perfect for two people. We have bush size protea plants flowering in our tiny yard and a resident tui bird in the banksia tree across the fence.

I’ve blogged about the tui bird before. Like Kiwis, we have come to love these birds. One online site describes the tui song as: “clear bell-like notes along with clicks, cackles, creaks, groans, and wheezing sounds…” On top of that, the tui has two voice boxes and some of its song is inaudible to humans. They are also good at mimicking. One person told us of going nutsy because a tui bird in their yard had learned to mimic their cell phone! This banksia tree is an Australian transplant and has large, bright yellow, brush-like flowers.


Since arriving in Whangamata, we have had quite a bit of rain as well as winds, thunder, and lightening. We did manage one day to venture out of town to a nearby bush walk along a stream and up to a very long waterfall (seem to be a lot of those in NZ).

I’ve also relished some lengthy beach walks and have been pleasantly occupied going in to the nearby local school and helping out several mornings in the “new entrants” classroom--5 year olds. Takes me back to my year of teaching preschool--have even shared some of my favorite action songs. Delightfully, I just showed up at the office, dropped the name of the woman doc and parent who encouraged me when I asked about volunteering, and was instantly leading a reading group in one of the classrooms. No form to fill out or fingerprinting required.

Mark, on the other hand, has been working long and hard here. Since he is covering for a doc on a vacation, the practice has had him take on all the office hours and on call slots of the vacationing doc. This has resulted in his working ten of the twelve days we are here which included six days straight through the weekend and five call evenings in all. On top of that the call is not what he is accustomed to either. Maybe he’ll blog about it……..