One Wednesday, we had a big drive around the Coromandel peninsula – when I say we, Don’s lovely sister did all of the driving! Quite a few of the roads in New Zealand are gravel roads. As it is extremely hilly here, these roads twist and turn like a twisty turny thing! Often there are no barriers at the edge of the road. Just hazardous drops into the ocean or dense bush. We drove north past Oamaru Bay and continued up to Waitete Bay where we had a lovely walk on the beach. During this walk, one of my favourite stories came to life…it’s the story of the girl walking along a beach that is covered in stranded starfish – thousands. In the distance, she sees a figure bending down, picking something up and tossing it into the ocean. As she gets nearer, she realises that the man is picking up starfish and throwing them back out to sea. She asks him why he is bothering when there are so many stranded, and says it won’t make a difference. He answers her…I made a difference to that one. As we were strolling on the sand, I spotted a starfish, all curled up. I call out to Don and show him. I then decided to take it back to one of the rock pools and to my sheer delight, it began uncurling and started moving! I made a difference to that one! Don also saved two prawns that were stranded and waving their legs in the air! Next stop was Coleville, a small town with the most wonderful general store and a lovely cafe where we have a coffee. At this point, we cut across country to Waikawau and discover the delightful Little Bay where we have another walk on the sand. We carry on down the East coast towards Kennedy Bay and then back across the steep ranges to Coromandel Town.