[lettie]

On leaving Rotorua, I headed north. An old school friend had contacted me while I was in Auckland, and invited me to stay with her for a night, so off I went to the Coromandel Penninsula. This place has very rugged coastline, it's great for fishing. Tramping through Coromandel forest park and it's multitudinous trails is a very popular pastime here. Coromandel was once famous in the mid 1800's for its gold mines. Some lucky beggar struck gold and the small town of Thames became a boomtown. The mines were soon emptied and closed, and mining moved further south. Thames is the principal town in the Coromandel area and is where my friend lives. About an hours drive up the coastline from Thames (and a very steep, bendy, nauseating drive at that) lies the pretty town of Coromandel, obviously taking its name from the penninsula. Abot 5 miles or so from Coromandel town, along an unsurfaced and sometimes bumpy road, I found the brilliantly innovative Waiau Waterworks. The guy who made this was originally an engineer and his wife an artist. Together they made this fun little park in which all the features have moveable parts and are all powered by water. I was there alone, and it didn't stop me from having a go on all the little bikes, various jets and fountains. You can play on everything here, and there's a full explanation of how things work. Got all the brochures for my step brother to take my nephew, as he'd love it. On the pics, there are a couple of views of Coromandel coastline overlooking the Firth of Thames, Thames main street (this was taken friday morning 9am rush hour, dead innit??) Coromandel Town visitor centre and courthouse, the same building funnily enough, town picnic area, and some of the water features of Waiau Waterworks.