A Travellerspoint blog

"Part One of Southern Road Trip - and a surprise!"

Driving from Paihia to Taraunga

08.03.2007 - 08.03.2007 sunny 28 °C
View New Zealand 2007 Part 2 on Capt Cook's travel map.

Having ended our night in the Beachcomber bar in Paihia earlier than the previous evening, we arose at seven to pack and loaded "Bertha" for the relatively long journey south to the Bay of Plenty and the town of Tauranga.

Richie was drving this time and looked like the old girl didn't like it - it took him three goes to get that little Japanese engine to fire! After that she was fine and we meandered our way back down from where we came stopping once to photograph the mist that was cloaking the hills as we descended.

The drive was rather uneventful and we went over the main bridge at Auckland before lunch. We decided to continue onwards and ended up having lunch in the sleepy town of Ngatea.

I took over for the second part of the trip. Driving in a country of only 3.5 million people is really a joy as the traffic is pretty minimul and congestion confined to the major urban areas.

We arrived in Taraunga just after 2pm. As their was no one on reception we decided to drive over to Mount Wautangi.

To me this was one of the un-expected highlights of the trip so far, and I will try and put some of the many picutres I took of it on the blog (as my powers of description are a little mediocre at the moment!) so you can see how beautiful it was.

We're off to dinner in a little while and then onto Napier tomorrow. I will e-mail again.

Posted by Capt Cook 07.03.2007 8:09 PM

Email this entryFacebookStumbleUponRedditDel.icio.usIloho

Table of Contents

Comments

Eh up chaps! Keep the stories coming Steve.

Nice to know you're both doing well. Try not to kill the rental car to soon :-)

You'll be pleased to know that there have been some surprising developments here in Blighty... Global warming has really kicked in and we are basking in a 30 deg heatwave; the Queen and the government have decided to celebrate by shutting the country down for the next two weeks! We're all on a full-pay holiday! Amazing, shame you guys are missing out on it.

08.03.2007 by tony_turbo

Hey Steve,
Lol @ Tony Turbo.

Great to read about your trip, especially as I can picture exactly where you are. Did you see the Treaty House? Going zorbing? Skydiving over Lake Taupo?

Rising at 7am doesn't sound like much of a holiday to me. Such discipline!

Lauren thought Napier was like Disneyland, all that art deco stuff.

Weather looks good for you; not as good as here though ;o)

Take care
Sylvia x

08.03.2007 by 1stOne

Hey Steve, Richie and Bertha

Glad to hear all is well. Poor Bertha having to cart you two and all your baggage around. Treat her well :)

Like hearing all the news, but a holiday is not a holiday without a few funny stories. Not been arrested yet or visited any hospitals? Shame. Two weeks left so still some time left for a few amusing 'incidents'!

I have no idea what 'Zorbing' is but 'DON'T YOU DARE'! I want you back in one piece (sorry Sylvia! :))

Keep enjoying the sunshine as you won't find much here. Behave yourselves

Love kat xx

08.03.2007 by k1tt1kat

Zorbing has something to do with hamsters I think...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zorb

More stories Steve - how's the traffic situation today ;)

09.03.2007 by tony_turbo

Hi Stephen glad to hear Richie and you seem to be having a wonderful time. Keep the stores coming. By the way who is the intriguing "Tony Turbo". Mum and Pops kisses from Ruby.

09.03.2007 by Capt Cook

Ruby, Ruby, Ruby, Ruby..... aw!!!! she's lovely, I've seen her photo.

Hamster balls aren't half-filled with water though Tony Turbo. Who are you anyways?

09.03.2007 by 1stOne

:)

Went to see the Kaiser Chiefs at Shepherds Bush - they were great! Best tune of the night for me was Angry Mob.

I could not possibly reveal my true identity ;) But, I'm off up to P'boro on Saturday night. Steve - I shall let you know what the traffic is like ;)

Guys, where are you headed next? A chap I am working with now is from the North somewhere. He's just come back from there and says its "all good"! Any chance of you going sky diving or scuba or bungeeeeeeeeeeeee jumping?

Looks like we're going to lose to Aus today in the warmup...

TT

09.03.2007 by tony_turbo

Went to see the Kaiser Chiefs in Barcelona. Well that's not strictly true, I went to see U2 but the KC were amazing. Bet you can't jump as high as Ricky Wilson, turbo or no turbo! They live near me too.

P'boro should beware! ;o)

Now stay on topic!

10.03.2007 by 1stOne

This blog requires you to be a logged in member of Travellerspoint to place comments.

Enter your Travellerspoint login details below

( What's this? )

If you aren't a member of Travellerspoint yet, you can join for free.

Join Travellerspoint