Island of daydreams on Auckland's doorstep

By BARRY THOMPSON

When Captain James Cook sailed past the Mercury Islands off the Coromandel Peninsula in 1769 he never envisaged that more than 230 years later it would become one of New Zealand's favourite boating playgrounds.

Cook was on a strict mission to study the transit of Venus, but today's visitors to the Mercury Islands are more interested in fishing, diving, water-skiing and simply enjoying the natural beauty of the islands, which contain some of the most unspoiled beaches and bays in New Zealand.



About 11 to 12 nautical miles from Whitianga or Cooks Beach, Matarangi or Whangapoua, the Mercury Islands provide pristine, white, sandy beaches that blend into crystal-clear, aqua-blue water.

No matter what the wind direction, there is always a bay on Great Mercury Island in which to shelter. While all the other islands, such as Red Mercury, Double Island and Kawhitu, are wildlife sanctuaries on which you cannot land, there are still dozens of excellent bays where you can anchor and enjoy the solitude. Everywhere you look pohutukawa cling precariously to cliffs or droop their branches on to the sand at high-tide mark.

For the more adventurous, Korapuki Island provides a unique opportunity to sail through a cavernous tunnel, hewn by nature out of solid rock, to a large deep-water lagoon on the other side.

Although more than 6m deep, both above and below the water, the rock walls are at times less than 5m apart, so it's not a place you can visit in anything but a trailerboat or yacht tender. Once into the inner sanctum, the clear waters provide a special snorkelling area and a chance to reflect on the grandeur of nature. However, don't visit Korapuki's secret lagoon if a big swell is running.

Green Island and Atiu or Middle Island can always be relied upon to provide excellent diving and there is some great fishing on their north-west sides, where the seabed drops from 15m to 25m.

Furthest to the East is Red Mercury Island, which, like most of the other islands, apart from Great Mercury, has no sandy beaches.

The island gained some notoriety as the place where a German prisoner-of-war, Count Felix Von Luckner, hid during the Second World War in a stolen coastal freighter before escaping overseas. The bay in which he hid is appropriately named after him. A slow cruise close to shore reveals metre-long kelp clinging from boulders and, on a clear sunny day, provides the sight of an awesome array of fish in their natural environment.

However, it is the privately owned Great Mercury Island that is the haven for boaties during the summer. The island is owned by well-known New Zealand businessmen Sir Michael Fay and David Richwhite, who allow the public access to all the coastal beaches and ask only that they clean up and remove their rubbish and respect the areas that have been fenced off for livestock.

The island features numerous beaches, the more popular of which are on the southern side, where there is the most shelter.

Peachgrove Bay, with its white sand dunes visible from well out to sea, is particularly attractive. Anyone venturing up from around Mercury Bay will see the magnificent white sand as soon as they round the Needles and cruise through the Hole in the Wall passage. The dunes act like a compass beacon, inviting boaties to come across and rest awhile.

Peachgrove offers idyllic and safe anchorage at all tides and a wide, expansive beach with plenty of mooring space. There are also excellent smaller beaches with good tidal access on either side, with places like Whale Cove and Momona Bay worth visiting. Bumper Cove can be good if the wind is blowing from the north, although in all bays it pays to watch out for the shallow reefs that may show only when the tide is low.

Perhaps the best-known bay on Great Mercury Island is Home Bay, at the northern end. Here the owners of the island have established some of the most stunning and expensive holiday homes in New Zealand.

The bay provides the longest beach on the island and is a perfect anchorage in all tides. It's also one of the more popular bays for water-skiing and wakeboarding and provides its fair share of scallops for the keen scuba diver.

If it's fishing you are into, snapper weighing more than 10kg are regularly caught among the drop-offs near the rocks of the island's northern end. Sail Rock and Never Fall have produced exceptionally large snapper this summer and proved the right places to be to win local fishing contests.

However, at this end of the island there are really only two bays for the trailerboatie to venture into safely. Rocky Bay is stunning, with a narrow entrance between shallow reefs, which lead through to a sandy beach and crystal clear waters. Further south, the much larger Coralie Bay is favoured by the launches and cruising yachts, but there is plenty of beach for trailerboats to pull up on and lay out the picnic basket.

Great Mercury Island is an accessible location that feels truly remote - if you close your eyes and daydream, it's easy to believe nothing much has changed since Captain James Cook sailed past more than 230 years ago.

www.thepeninsula.co.nz/whitianga/infocentre.htm

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Picnic fare made easy

By PAULINE KENNEDY

When you make that trip to Great Mercury Island, you will, of course, need to take your lunch with you. Here are some simple ideas for a summer picnic.

(For a splash of further colour take along strawberries and chocolate dip.)

* SPINACH FILO PIE

Make the night before and take cold the next day, or make before you go and enjoy it warm. Even my anti-green kids will eat this.

Ingredients:

1 large bunch of spinach

1 pottle (250g) cottage cheese

Black pepper

1 tsp basil

1 tsp wholegrain mustard

1 Tbs parmesan cheese

2 eggs

9 sheets filo pastry

Half cup grated cheese

Milk

Method:

Heat oven to 180 deg C.

Remove spinach stalks, rinse and roughly rip leaves. Place in a covered dish and microwave for 1 to 2 minutes until wilted, drain excess water and allow to cool.

Using a food processor, blend together cottage cheese, pepper, basil, mustard, parmesan and eggs.

Add cooled spinach and process until spinach is evenly distributed in small pieces throughout the mixture.

Grease a 24cm square dish, line it with eight sheets of filo, alternating directions to overlap. Leave overhang to fold over top.

Pour the cottage-cheese mix into dish, stir grated cheese in with a fork to distribute.

Fold filo over filling. Any gaps can be filled with your extra sheet. Brush lightly with milk.

Bake at 180 deg C for 40 to 45 minutes or until set.

* AVOCADO WALNUT SALAD

Best to pre-prepare ingredients - just take the avocado along and assemble on site.

Ingredients:

1 avocado

lettuce leaves of your choice

1/2 cup chopped walnut pieces

Dressing of your choice (I use vinaigrette or french dressing)

Method:

Rinse and drain lettuce leaves, scatter on a platter. Slice avocado, place over lettuce. Toss walnuts over the top and drizzle with dressing.

Enjoy with fresh cheesy or multigrain rolls.

* WHOLEMEAL APRICOT SLICE

Ingredients:

300g dried apricots (about 2 cups)

2 Tbs lemon juice

125g butter

1/4 cup wholemeal flour

1 cup desiccated coconut

1 1/4 cup rolled oats

1 tsp baking powder

3/4 cup sugar

1 Tbs golden syrup

1 egg

apricot jam (about 1/3 cup)

Method:

Heat oven to 180 deg C. Grease an 18cm by 26cm slice tin. Process apricots and juice to form a chunky mix. Combine flour, coconut, rolled oats and baking powder.

Cream butter and sugar until light. Add syrup and egg, mix well. Stir in dry ingredients.

Press just under half the mix into the slice tin. Spread jam on to cover. Evenly spread on apricots. Top with remaining mix. Bake at 180 deg C for 20 minutes or until browned, then allow to cool before slicing.

I prefer this healthy version, but have sometimes added 1/2 cup of chocolate chips sprinkled over the apricots before placing on the topping.