Ready to go, this time is for good.

Ok, I arrived in NZ on the 1st and it was now the 21st.  Three weeks had gone by and due to various teething problems I had only managed to visited Auckland and the northern region.  In my original plans I hoped to reach the south island by the 1st of Dec so I had to move on, fast!  I waved one last goodbye to Auckland Sky Tower, and then I hit the road with Betsy, Roger, Mike and Dave (the new voice on my satnav with a very annoying American accent) one happy family :-)

 

I stopped in Thames for lunch and took advantage of the free wifi internet at the library to check my emails.

  It was great to have Roger back; The first thing I did even before loading up my software and photos was to play my current favourite song, as a special moment to welcome my old buddy Rog!  It’s called ‘Heavy’ from Holly Brooks, an American artist, love it… and love her too!  I slouched back in the chair, put my feet up, closed my eyes and enjoyed the music, thinking… well isn’t this nice :-)    

 

After lunch I got back in the car and drove up to Coromandel town.  Oh, what a fantastic drive!  The road hugs the coastline for 30ish km, passing beautiful blue water bays, empty beaches and small towns of a few houses.  You drive so close to the edge of the water that sometimes it looks as if you might drive straight off and into the sea.

  Then you start to climb up and the road twists and winds up steep hills, it’s hard to keep concentrated with spectacular view of the Hauraki Gulf to the left, and green farmland to the right.

 

Coromandel is a charming little town with many sidewalk cafes, art galleries and historical buildings.  I spent an hour exploring the place and enjoyed a glass of wine and a hand full of strawberries at the opening of an art exhibition.  I contemplated the idea of stopping there for the night, not because I had too much wine (typical!) more so ‘cos it was Friday night and I had spotted the poster for a big music even.  However the sun was still high, and I really wanted to press on with my trip, so I decided to carry on to the next town, Whitianga.

 

Along the way, I stopped to take a photo of the sunset and by the time I got to Whitianga it was dark and late at night.  I drove along what I assumed to be the ‘main strip’ and I was drawn to the enticing sounds of Friday night drunken chatter coming from a few bars.  I cold have murdered an ice cold pint of larger, however the long drive from Auckland killed my mojo, so I polished off the last economy tin of sardines in tomato sauce (false economy I tell you) and hit the sack, to the tune of a very poor karaoke performance of ‘summer of 69’ playing in the distance.