We had a long weekend at the end of October, and decided to get away with friends to the quiet, remote reaches at the top of the Coromandel Peninsula. We had booked a fishing charter to celebrate Brett and a friends’ birthdays, but it unfortunately got cancelled due to high winds. We went ahead with the rest of the weekend, and discovered some new gems we hadn’t seen last time we were in the Coromandel.

Check out our adorable chalet in Port Charles! Despite a few plumbing issues (not cool!) we had a great time exploring the surrounding trails and beaches.

But the most interesting part of the weekend…?

We met the famous local Pig Man!

Driving on the 309 Road, which runs cuts across the peninsula from Coromandel Town to the east coast beaches, we came across a ‘pig crossing’ sign. And sure enough, a second later, at least 10 pigs scampered across the gravel, unsealed road.

And then, looking to the right and left, we saw literally nearly 100 pigs – from full grown to tiny, newborn piglets. I couldn’t contain my excitement and made us pull over. After getting out and snapping a few pictures of the little black piglets, we saw Stu. Dirty and barefoot, it looked like he had been out with the pigs all day. But after looking it up, we found out that he actually lives among his pigs.

He was very nice, and offered to let us hold a piglet – explaining that the cutie we were snuggling was “a squealer.” “There’s nothing the matter, he just won’t stop squealing,” he continued. After we set the pig down, he told us he was going to check to make sure a litter born yesterday was still alive. He invited us to investigate with him, but we thanked him and went on our way.

Amazing.

You can read all about Stu the Pig Man is this feature story. Little did we know – he has become a real tourist attraction, with a listing on TripAdvisor and Coromandel’s i-SITE page. A quirky must-see!