I’ve been touring around the Coromandel Peninsula and Northlands, but it has been very windy and rainy for the last few days. The forecast is for it to continue.
It only rains in brief showers, but the winds have been quite high, with even higher gusts.
A tourist was injured in Auckland, yesterday, when a tree was hit by a 150 km/h (95mph) gust and fell on top of her!
I did get enough break in the weather to ride on a fun little narrow gauge railway on the Coromandel Peninsula.
What you see is a second train following my train, up to the top. It was a busy day!
The guy who built the railroad has a pottery workshop at the bottom of the hill. He built the first 200m of railway to carry clay and firewood from the hillside to his shop. Then, he just kept on building! In 2003, he completed the railway, which goes 3km, to the top of the hill, where there is a lookout tower.
The railcars were also built in the local shop.
Michael Chmilar's Travels 