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New Zealand > Waikato
> Coromandel > Colville
By Jessica Lloyd
Last Gas for 50km!
 Yes, the last stop before the end of the Peninsula. The Colville Store provides
food, petrol, diesel, and these huge great chunks of chocolate which look and
taste like they were just made, broken into random pieces, and wrapped up in
plastic to put on sale. You can try milk chocolate, dark chocolate or white
chocolate. Each piece is wrapped up and sold by weight. As a kid, having this
massive rock of delicious chocolate that you bought yourself with your measly
holiday pocket money is like being the king of the castle. It also lasts for a
long time, and melts all over the seats/your clothes/your parents clothes if you
leave it stashed in the car…
Organics and Potholes
The roads up this end turn into gravel not long after you leave Colville: the
final frontier before you get to creatively adorned bush residences, wild men
with beards, and combi vans full of tie-dyed hippies off to check their stash.
Its not that bad, really, if you come in summer it will be busy with
over-stuffed cars and carsick kids (which may sound much less appealing). The
roads are very winding and steep and sometimes potholed, depending on how
attentive and flush the council is feeling that particular year. To their
credit, repairs are regular.
Hippyville at its Finest
Colville is home to a Buddhist centre, and you will drive past the big-bellied
glamour man on your way up. It is impossible to miss it. It seems a little out
of place but really its not – it fits right in up here, where it is ordinary to
grow your own (strictly organic) vegetables and practice Reiki. The alternative
lifestyle is preferred in this part of New Zealand. There is also a small
primary school for the local kids.
What’s Around?
And un-hippy holidaymakers? There are plenty. Being un-hip in Colville is not
too laborious. There are fun things to do, and a good range of accommodation to
choose from, with creature comforts or tents – whatever you prefer. There are
farms, beaches, and muddy marshes. Colville is great a base to travel onwards
around the top end of the Peninsula: the Coromandel is your oyster. Or mussel,
or paua, or whatever. Tramping, fishing, bird watching, all water sports except
surfing, horse riding, and the fresh sea breeze with the lazy sheltered bays
make for a full – or not – respite from reality. Nothing too taxing!
Nightlife, Food and Drink
Strictly BYO entertainment and refreshments. Except for a small café at the
Colville Store, there isn’t anything else to choose from. Keep an eye out for
fresh fruit, veges and seafood for sale on the side of the road – people grow
their own produce and don’t charge much for it. Colville is about half an hour
to Coromandel, where you will find pubs and a restaurant/cafes, but if you are
unwilling to drive there, start collecting firewood! Your freshly caught seafood
will be delicious even if you charcoal it by mistake. Nightlife, if a term like
that can be used in such a place, is whatever you choose to do with your life at
night – blackjack anyone? There are sometimes games and parties at camping
grounds, with barn dances and all sorts going on, which are always very fun for
everyone. The kids can go mad, the sheep can get scared, and the oldies can get
drunk.
Overall
Colville is a very unique little place, with many interesting and colourful
characters living there. It is very quaint, almost old fashioned, and about as
‘Coromandel’ as it gets. The surrounding bays are very much all a part of the
same whole, because they are strung together by the twisting, but short, road.
Papa Aroha, Amodeo Bay and Whangaahei are all close by and have great holiday
facilities.
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