1Your Trail Guide

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The CoromandelKARANGAHAKE GORGE1 Bistro at The Falls Retreat, 25 Waitawheta Rd Waikino www.fallsretreat.co.nz

2 Ohinemuri Winery, 23 Moresby St Karangahake S37 www.ohinemuri.co.nz

THAMES3 Matatoki Cheese Barn, Wainui Rd Matatoki www.thecheesebarn.co.nz

4 Grahamstown Bar and Diner ‘the GBD’, 700 Pollen St Thames www.thejunction.net.nz

5 The Depot, 713 Pollen St Thames www.cafemelbourne.co.nz

6 Thames Organic Co-op 736 Pollen St Thames

THAMES COAST7 Koru at Rapaura 586 Tapu-Coroglen Rd www.rapaurawatergardens.co.nz

8 Waioumu Beach Café, 622A Thames Coast Rd

COROMANDEL9 Coromandel Oyster Company, 1611 Tiki Rd

q Coromandel Mussel Kitchen & MK Brewing Co, cnr SH25 & The 309 Rd www.musselkitchen.co.nz

w Pepper Tree Restaurant and Bar, 31 Kapanga Rd www.peppertreerestaurant.co.nz

e Star and Garter, 5 Kapanga Rd www.starandgarter.co.nz

WHITIANGA-MERCURY BAYr Luke’s Kitchen, 20 Blackjack Rd Kuaotunu Village www.lukeskitchen.co.nz

t Salt Restaurant, 1 Blacksmith Lane Whitianga www.salt-whitianga.co.nz

y Wilderland Shop, SH25 Whitianga-Tairua www.wilderland.org.nz

u Mercury Bay Estate, 761A Purangi Rd Cooks Beach

i Cathedral Cove Macadamias, 335 Lees Rd Hahei www.cathedralcovemacadamias.co.nz

o The Coromandel Brewery, 7 Grange Rd Hahei www.coromandelbrewingcompany.co.nz

p Hot Waves Café, 8 Pye Pl Hot Water Beach

a Hot Water Brewing Co, 1043 SH25 Whenuakite www.hotwaterbrewingco.com

s Colenso Country Café & Shop, 895 SH25 Whenuakite

TAIRUA-PAUANUId The Old Mill, 1 The Esplanade, Tairua www.theoldmillcafetairua.com

f Miha Restaurant at Puka Park, 48 Mount Ave, Pauanui www.pukapark.co.nz

WHANGAMATAg Cafe 646, 646 Port Rd Whangamata www.sixfortysix.co.nz

A SMALL SELECTION OF PLACES TO VISIT

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Restaurant or café

Winery or Brewery

Pub or Bar

Boutique or Specialty Food

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Start your TourMOUNTAINOUS CONSERVATION LAND reaches from the spine of the Coromandel to fertile terraces at the sea’s edge and beyond.

It is these landscapes that have fed generations of gardeners, gatherers,

bushmen and campers since the earliest of settlement times in New Zealand.

The Coromandel was once isolated from a ready supply of hardware and supermarket goods, and

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our smaller communities continue to innovate, grow and share organic produce amongst each other year-round.

For bach owners, locals and visitors alike, the Coromandel offers the bounty of the sea, the forest and the neighbour’s feijoa trees over a leisurely catch-up while the smoker is fired up.

As a visitor or a local, what better way to truly taste the Coromandel than a tour of the mussel farmers, organic growers and artisan producers serving home grown local produce through world class chefs…

View of Paku and Ocean Beach, Tairua with Pauanui beyond.

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THE FORMER GOLD MINING TOWN of Thames is a pantry of artisan products, and a perfect place for stocking the picnic hamper for the bach or your drive up the Thames Coast Road to Coromandel Town.

Niche shops and small producers sell cheeses and yoghurts, homemade Scottish oat cakes, locally-grown organic produce, spice blends and coffee at cafés from Grahamstown at the northern end of town to Matatoki in the south.

As the starting point for the Hauraki Rail Trail, cyclists refuel at The Cheese Barn at

from small Batches to small Baches

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Matatoki where cheesemaker Kelvin Haigh and wife Cathy have created a character-filled café in which to meet the cheesemaker and sample organic blue, mozzarella, camembert and traditional Dutch gouda. Matatoki is a 10 minute drive from Thames. www.thecheesebarn.co.nz

While in Thames, The Depot in Grahamstown stocks a range of artisan curry powders and freshly made spice blends at Savour & Spice. Cross the road to the Thames Organic Co-op for fresh and preserved organics and honey, delivered from small farms and mountain stream-fed bush blocks throughout the Coromandel.

To taste artisan local coffee, Coffee Lala is sold throughout the Coromandel and beyond.

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AQUACULTURE FARMERS in the Hauraki Gulf produce one quarter of New Zealand’s mussels and oysters for local consumption and for export and these morsels are never fresher than when they are eaten locally.

The Coromandel Oyster Co. serves meals on-site or in packages best eaten minutes later at a nearby beach. Fresh Coromandel Pacific Oysters are available from the farm gate, where you can buy oyster meat, 1/2 shell or whole-shell at farm gate prices. The company’s

Harvest the Love

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retail outlet also stocks seafood harvested locally and served either cooked or fresh, including premium Greenlip Mussels, Kina, Paua, Crayfish, mussel chowder and paua and mussel fritters. They also courier anywhere in New Zealand to help with your event or celebrations.

At the Coromandel Mussel Kitchen and MK Brewing Co in Coromandel Town, all the ingredients served to customers are gathered from the surrounding land and sea before being opened by hand, steamed in specially built ovens or smoked over a Manuka fire. The Peppertree in Coromandel Town is another option infusing local flavours into juicy local mussels and oysters.

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JUST AS SYNONYMOUS WITH CAMPING holidays, beaches and baches is the barbecue – and the Coromandel has its share of butchers offering special cuts and marinades using all-local ingredients.

At the Coromandel Meatkeeper in Coromandel Town you will find traditional smoked bacon, freerange eggs and steaks on the bone for a hearty breakfast after early starts on the sea. At Tairua Butchery and Meat at the Beach in Whangamata, shop for special cuts and gourmet marinades, macadamia oil, freerange eggs and matatoki pork to get the barbecue sizzling.

Enjoy with a can of award-winning IPA (Indian Pale Ale) collected from Hot Water Brewing Co in Whenuakite, or stop for a while here to taste all the varieties and have a chat with

Meetings round the Barbecue

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brewer Dave Kurth. A holiday park is handily located next door where The Rising Can Festival is held in November, celebrating canned craft beer in New Zealand. Visit www.hotwaterbrewingco.com for info.

The Pour House brewery and restaurant in Hahei is just 20 minutes’ drive away and within walking distance of Hahei beach. It is a perfect place to enjoy woodfired pizza with the Coromandel Brewing Co. craft beer brewed onsite by owner Neil Vowles.

Neil started out as a passionate home brewer before establishing the Coromandel Brewing Co. beer brand and recently opening The Pour House restaurant to serve it fresh and tasty, straight from the brewery.

Their beer is brewed with all grain recipes and lots of the best New Zealand hops.

www.coromandelbrewingcompany.co.nz

‘ Remember God created beer because he wants us to be happy’

The Pour House

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ON A PENINSULA AT THE EDGE of the upper estuary in Whitianga, Wilderland was founded by organic pioneer Dan Hansen and wife Edith so that people of all nationalities could work side by side in harmony with nature.

It was 1964, and like residents in those early days, the self-reliant and peaceful community at Wilderland continues its quest to tread lightly on the land by reusing resources in practical and inventive ways.

Wilderland is a charitable

Back to the Land

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educational trust and a living part of the Coromandel heritage. Daily life revolves around the production of organic food by residents and volunteers at the rambling farm.

Garden beds and big old trees planted half a century ago among the 64ha of regenerating native bush produce apples and pears, citrus, greens, vegetables, honey and herbs to feed volunteers and families working to provide Wilderland’s educational service.

The surplus is picked and sold in season or turned into dried goods, relishes, chutneys and ointments at the Wilderland roadside shop. Everything is certified organic.

Experience Wilderland’s back-to-the-land philosophy on a workshop or tour – enquire at www.wilderland.org.nz – and to taste the bounty visit local markets, organic stores, or the Wilderland roadside shop on SH25 between Whitianga and Tairua.

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UNITING THE PLEASURE OF GOOD FOOD with a commitment to the community and environment are what led Sue and Brian Pilkington to one of the finest marriages in seafood history.

Owners of Cathedral Cove Macadamias in rural Hahei, Brian, Sue and their family are the creators of the sellout macadamia crumbed scallops at the Whitianga Scallop Festival; their crowd-pleasing organic creation even known to have drawn applause in the street from festival-going fans.

The foodie couple were invited to join the scallop festival in its first year, and, consulting with peers in the Slow Food Movement,

Seafood HeavenMatch made in

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devised a spiced crumb blend on each scallop that was an instant hit.

Sue, a former home economics school teacher, and Brian ‘bean counter turned nut counter’ host visitors from 10am – 3pm 7 days a week on their 6.7ha sun-drenched organic orchard on Lees Rd.

They sell a range of delectable take-home oils and creations like macadamia crumb, muesli, dukkah or choc-dipped macadamias from a food caravan.

Join the native kereru birds as you tour the organic orchard with the growers, and visit www.cathedralcovemacadamias.co.nz for inspired recipes like lemon aioli with macadamia oil or cauliflower rice with macadamia dukkah.

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The bees that get to call Coromandel hives as their homes are surrounded by untouched native flora and fauna.

It is no surprise that our locally grown honey and Manuka oil products are sought after worldwide for their therapeutic properties and taste.

The 309 Rd honey brand is harvested from bush clad hills with due care and attention to the bees and the environment that produces it.

Meet the Coromandel’s beekeepers at markets, or at their small shops in villages or quiet country roads. At The 309 Rd you can buy the product then experience the bush at walks through conservation land. Stop at the Wilderland shop off SH25 for honey that has been perfected for over 40 years.

If it’s healing you’re after, look for a UMF (Unique Manuka Factor) rating of 10 or more to ensure the potency of manuka honey.

In rural Whitianga, The New Zealand Coromandel Mountains Tea Tree Oil Company harvests all its trees by hand. Find their oils and soaps at markets and local shops.

Bush Bees

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Just a little off the beaten track from Hikuai to Whangamata is Opoutere Beach and estuary, an ecological sanctuary with a whitesand beach that is accessed only by walking through forest.

Gather your picnic and laze here. Ohui Vineyard is a local boutique vineyard by the sea using only certified sustainable and organic

Succulent Scallops

processes, and can be purchased online at www.ohuivineyard.co.nz From the generation of first people to arrive in New Zealand, these white sand shores were a place to process shellfish. People filled their kete from the abundance of tua tua, cockles, pipis, scallops and mussels and steamed them over fires before stringing the meat onto rushes for storage.Scallops and kina is gathered from the east Coromandel coastline when sea conditions allow divers to enter. Whangamata Scallops know this delicacy like nobody else - processing 40 tonnes of scallop meat a year to provide more scallops than anyone else in New Zealand.

Endless mouth-watering dishes are devised at the Whitianga Scallop Festival every September with 60 cuisine stands, entertainment and seafood cooking demonstrations. See www.scallopfestival.co.nz for details.

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MarketsTairua Market Tairua Hall, Main Rd,

TairuaFirst Saturday morning each month

Kuaotunu Market Kuaotunu Township Saturday morning from Labour weekend-Easter

Matarangi Craft Market

Matarangi village shops

Sundays from December to January & holiday weekends

Whitianga Art, Craft & Farmers Market

Soldiers Memorial Park Whitianga

Saturday mornings on holiday weekends and community events

Tairua Fireman’s Market

Tairua Fire Station, Main Rd

Saturday morning of Labour Weekend

Coroglen Farmers Market

Gumtown Hall, Coroglen

Sunday morning Labour Weekend-Easter

A Taste of Matarangi

Village Green, Matarangi

Annual event around April

Thames Market Pollen Street Grahamstown Thames

Saturday mornings 8am - 12noon

Coromandel Market 31 Kapanga Rd Coromandel Town

Fridays 8am - 12noon

Coro Flavours at the Quay

Pauanui Waterways Annual event in November

Pauanui Wine Trail Pauanui Waterways Annual event in November

Whangamata Lions Market

RSA Carpark Anniversary Weekend, Easter & Labour Wknd

Whangamata Community Market

Liquor Land Carpark 8am - 1pm Saturdays in summer months

www.thecoromandel.com for updated listings

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www.tcdc.govt.nz

www.thecoromandel.com