Arriving in Auckland at 6am from Papeete I realise that I managed to book a hotel night for a night that we literally just skipped – we had just crossed the dateline….. No matter, after several incredibly beautiful weeks on the waters of French Polynesia but starved of decent food, most notably fresh vegetables but also some decent crusty sourdough, we are so ready to dive into Auckland’s legendary restaurant scene. We start off with a stroll down to Britomart, to have breakfast at Amano. The drinks menu alone makes our mouth water: blood orange and sage shrub anyone? Or rather kale oats and ginger smoothie? Fortunately, no need to choose, we take it all, as well as a scrumptious brand loaf with orange, mint, hazelnut and mascarpone, smoked fish pate with salsa verde and a delectable smorgasbord of more delights. Ok, we love Auckland. After a day of strolling around the not particularly charming downtown, and a much needed 2 hour nap it is time for dinner at Culprit. I had read about its concept of food served Yum Cha trolley style, you just pick the plates off the trolley as they come by. That seemed perfect for us on this first day and what a great choice it is. The food is really delicious and the selection of wines excellent. Ever tried asparagus tempura style in Marmite batter? Surprisingly yummy! Anjali chooses the stuffed courgette flowers with cauliflower and sukkah while I opt for the venison with celeriac and chocolate and a side of “mean carrot”. Soooo good!
We decide to forgo dessert as the children are begging us to go out for ice cream. Anjali, by now a tripadvisor expert, finds us Giapo, just a few minutes walk down. Well, she definitely knows her stuff, as judging by the queue alone, this place is clearly very popular. Turns out they are particularly known as much for their unique flavours as for the instagram-pleasing chocolate sculptures they pour around their ice cream, with the most famous one being the selfie frame (yes, literally). Anjali opts for Buffalo Yogurt filled lips and the twins for Strawberry & Cream, but before that we get to try their whole selection of yummy flavours. Thierry and I fall in love with their blackberry-mustard sorbet and 3 months later Thierry will still be raving about it…
The next morning we are off East, to the Coromandel peninsula. But first, we need to pick up our car. The kids being kids, they have dreamed this whole trip of “trucking” down the highway in a pick up car (in fact, I suspect that this idea has been well nourished by their dad when I wasn’t around) and, as luck will have it, a brand new black pick up is on offer.
Next stop: Coromandel town.
One of the tough decisions in our travel planning was where to go in New Zealand. Such s beautiful country, so much to see and do. Since Thierry and I had already done a tour around the South Island 15 years hence, we decided to discover the North Island this time around. but even after narrowing it down to that, we were still spoiled for choices on what to do, two weeks is not a lot of time! We decide on the Coromandel peninsula, on the north east of the North Island famous for its beautiful scenery as well as its mussels. Anjali being a huge mussel fan, that seals the deal for us, we need to go. The apparently best place to taste the famed mussels, especially the greenlipped variety, is Mussel Kitchen. We order a mussel pot Thai style and one with a white wine garlic sauce. What we get are two humonguous pots filled to the brim with the most gigantic mussels we have ever seen. I know the growing conditions here are great, what with the clean water and air, but these guys actually look like they come out of a steroid factory, you can hardly even fit one in your mouth! That, besides the thick hollondaise style white sauce when we were expecting a nice garlicky wine broth, is a major turn off and so, with a disappointed Anjali, we conclude that Coromandel mussels are not for us. A few km further, we set up camp in a cute Airbnb just outside Coromandel Town (doubt it actually qualifies by city planning standards as a full fledged town, it’s one dusty road with a supermarket and some cafés, really) which has its own little organic veggie garden, nasturtium in all colors growing everywhere (ever tried any in your salad? especially the flowers. they are pretty AND delicious. As well as nutrient packed – it’s known as a natural antibiotic and immune strengthener) and it even has its own little playground as well as a pretty speedy flying fox in the garden. Needless to say, this place is a winner. Further up north is a gorgeous walk all along the coast, from Stony Bay to Fletcher Bay and back, 20km in all. We are all alone, and the narrow path leads us through thick fern and Kauri tree forest, along the cliffs plunging over the gorgeous islands dotted throughout the Hauraki gulf. I read somewhere that “it’s like walking through a 10km film set” and I can only second that. This truly is spectacular. Near the end the clouds are pulling in so it’s time for our much anticipated picnic of supermarket bread and cheddar cheese. Fortunately we also stocked up on various and quite delicious pumpkin, beetroot and other hummus dips that seem to be all the rigueur here – we don’t know this yet, but these will be our main food source for all the hikes and camping to come – and we get to enjoy these atop our cliff listening to the thundering waves pulling on the rocks below. As the first drizzle sets in we are packed up and ready to race our way back into the shelter of the forest and make it back to our car in record time, after all, Thierry promised everyone a surprise if we made it back in less than 2.5 hours. Thus, 1h45min later and with our muddy boots off, Thierry rewards our crew with their very first driving lesson, in a giant pick up up no less. Lucky kids. and we’re lucky they don’t drive it into the sea, which, let me tell you, is not a given…..
The next day we take it easy, after all, we have a 4 day paddling adventure coming up. we have lunch in town, and, to our surprise and delight, this tiny one street town harbors one of the best cafés we have come across on our trip! Wharf Road menu already makes it hard for me to choose which says a lot because the vegetarian options on restaurant menus are not usually very numerous and we decide on Burnt Iranian eggplant with slow-cooked tomato stew & pickled pumpkin, Charred carrots with fennel & almond polpettes & coriander pistou and Kraut & Sprouts with green herb pesto, feta and sauteed kale. Very Ottolenghi inspired, this is vegetarian cooking at its absolute best. How lucky are we to discover this?! It is so good that we, of course, HAVE to try their desserts, and their cheesecake and peanutbutter shortcake alike are simply divine. By now the rain is pouring down outside which is just as well, really, because after all that food, we can only roll out.
The next morming we want to start bright and early because we have a packed program and quite a long drive down to Whaganui river where we will depart on our 4D3N canoeing “trek”. We’re in the car by 6, our first stop is Hot Water beach where you can apparently dig a whole in the sand to experience the hot spring running underneath. Sounds fun, we rent our shovel and off we go. We soon see – even at this early hour! – groups of people clustered around the same area, digging and sitting in water. That seems silly, of course, given the size of the beach so we start digging a good 50m away. We are actually very lucky with our timing because you can only access the hot spring 2 hours before and after low tide and we get there just at low tide. It’s a chilly morning and we will be happy to sit in some warm water. We dig and dig and dig, and 10min later still nothing. We try again, approaching the cluster a bit closer, but same result. Turns out the “arteries” run along a very specific part of the beach only, so we join the 50+ others. Fortunately, by now the tide is rising and people are starting to leave so we get to recuperate one of the lovely big pools, right in the first “row”. The rising tide washes the cold sea into our pool which turns out to be a good thing because, as i start digging away I suddenly realize that my feet are quite literally on fire – this water is burning hot! it bubbles out at 64degrees celcius, this is hot enough to desinfect our towels!! a few scarlet red toes and happy splashing later we head off to our next stop a bit further up the coast on Hahei Beach, the legendary Cathedral Cove. This beach is only accessible on foot, boat or kayak and is known for its unique scenery with a giant stone arch that gives way to a pretty little bay. Accustomed to a certain solitude by now, and with the ear splitting tourist motor boats in the background, this is much too crowded for my taste, but it is, without a doubt, a truly pretty place.
With still 5 hours of driving ahead, as well as the need to stock up on provisions for our canoe trip, it’s time to pile back into the car. Which we probably should have done a bit sooner, because, with my by now legendary co-pilot talent, I manage to take us on a scenic backcountry drive around the central North Island 🤓…