View of Pauanui from Mt Paku, Tairua.
Pauanui was a perfect weekend getaway, says Holly Jean Brooker.
It was mid-morning and we were heading south for a family getaway at Pauanui, along the east coast of the Coromandel Peninsula. There were 10 of us in total: cousins, aunties, uncles and Nani, eagerly exchanging our busy city lives for a low-key long weekend away. We were baching in
a gorgeous 1970's style house on Pauanui's stunning estuary. The Florence Broadhurst-style wallpaper and kitsch house decor added to that feeling of stepping back in time to those nostalgic days of our childhood. Card games, board games, monopoly and reading books were high on the agenda for our evenings. The staircase gave us younger parents heart palpitations as the more adventurous one (Nani!) encouraged the 2-year-olds to slide down the staircase -- which they did so with utter glee, shooting down like little bullets as their courage grew with each launch.
The forecast for the weekend wasn't great, but we weren't going to let that stop us from having a good time. There was a ton of exploring to do, not to mention the fishing. Pauanui's meaning is "place with heavy rains" and this was proved right on arrival. Although the sun was shining, shortly after we had unpacked the car and shot over to Kennedy Park for a family round of baseball, the skies opened up on us. The kids weren't fazed, so the adults sucked it up and carried on with the game. We were rewarded with a double rainbow filling the sky and the sun returning for a short while.
Later that day, when the skies really did decide to stop teasing us, we bundled the kids up in gumboots, jackets and hats and set off for the beach mid downpour on a puddle hunt. A couple of hours outside in the rain was enough to burn off some energy, so it was back to the house for early evening baths, showers and hot chocolates to warm up. Good ol' Mum had been slaving away in the kitchen earlier and had whipped up a legendary roast lamb which was just the ticket after a long day adventuring.
On the Sunday morning my husband and I cooked the family our famous American pancakes and collectively inhaled them as we sat out on the deck overlooking the estuary. Of course a big walk was soon in order so it was off to "town" for supplies with the older kids zooming ahead on bikes and scooters.
