After spending the morning exploring Coromandel Town a bit and arranging for lodging for the next couple days, we went to Driving Creek Railway. We weren't really expecting a lot, but it was in the area, so we decided to check it out. We ended up quite surprised at what we found! A rather eccentric potter, Barry Brickell, bought some land so he could start a pottery collective. He began constructing a narrow gauge railway to transport clay to his kiln. He enjoyed building the railroad so much, he continued over the next 25 years to expand it so that now it goes through 3 tunnels, 5 viaducts, and changes direction five times at reversing points to zigzag up the mountain to the top! The incline is quite steep in places and George was very impressed with the civil engineering required. All along there are pottery and brick artworks and retaining walls made of glass bottles. Very interesting! We stuck around for quite a while after the tour, looking around at the art sculpture gardens, and actually saw the reclusive Barry Brickell in person, now 70+ years old.
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| All aboard! |
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| Looking down on the train from the tower above |
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| The "Eyeful Tower" |
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| One of the glass bottle retaining walls |
We had the most amazing food throughout our whole vacation! We went to wonderful restaurants of all varieties and ate delicious meals including some fabulous desserts. No wonder I wasn't the same weight when I came back! On this night, we went to the Pepper Tree restaurant. I won't post pictures of all our great meals, but here's what I had that night:
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| Free Range chicken on mushroom & brie filo parcel with spiced plum jus |
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| Chocolate Mousse |
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