Boxing Day - Friday December 26th, 2008

We were up bright and early and out of the hotel by 6:30 AM. The sun was shining and it was a beautiful 19 degrees. After checking out we headed north to Auckland. On the way we phoned all our kids to wish them a Merry Christmas, and to let them know that we were alive and well. Not everyone has had the time to check the Blog! It was great to talk to everyone – we have been away for 2 weeks now.
We started on Motorway #1 up through Bulls, along the West Coast of the North Island. Most of this part of the trip was several KM in land, but we did get the occasional glimpse of the South Taunaki Bight of the Tasman Sea. The landscape continued to be very pretty, green and lush, with lots of sheep and cattle on acres of farmland.
At Bulls we turned west and more closely followed the coastline, getting occasional glimpses of the ocean. As we travelled further west we had to make a decision to cut across or take the longer route around the coast. As we had been so good about getting up nice and early we decided to take the longer route, Highway 45 – the Surf Route, and it really paid off. The scenery was magnificent! We had ocean on the left and the cloud shrouded Mt Egmont volcano on the right. We did not loose this scene until we reached New Plymouth. On one occasion we followed the signs to the Surfer’s Beach at Opunake, taking a much needed ‘coffee out’ stop and soaked in the beauty of the surf, the sea and the sky.
The volcano created landscape is amazing, and so is the road. We have driven roads with lots of twists and turns, and many switchbacks, but this road was quite different. It was more like driving on a roller coaster track. It would take you up and down and a quick right, then a quick left at the bottom of a downhill, then the next would be a quick right at the top of a short uphill. You never knew where the road was going to go next – great fun! One could not go to sleep on that road!
Then at Waitara we headed North again – back onto Highway 3 and toward Auckland. We made a quick lunch stop at Te Kuiti around 3, then were off again. Next stop should have been our hotel at the airport. BUT that was easier said than done! After driving all the way through Auckland, we finally admitted that we had missed our turn. (the airport is south of the city). With great difficulty we got off the motorway, and found a service station where a very nice young man confirmed that – yes we had missed our exit and it was about 45 minutes back. So back we went armed with the name of the exit – however – we soon learned that the reason we missed the exit – was that we were on the wrong motorway. Another wonderful garage attendant put us straight, got us on the right Motorway and to our hotel. We arrived much later than we had planned, but just in time to catch the restaurant before they closed, and to have a glass of wine and post the blogs before turning in for the night. We had hoped to get in touch with Stella, Steve and Jackie, but it was a tad too late by the time we arrived.