Journey from London was grim, second leg (14hrs) from Vancouver to Auckland was pretty ropey. A seatbelt securely fastened jobby. Within an hour of landing, we’d pick(ed)-up the pick-up truck (only done 10,000 miles) and negotiated two new burner sim cards. The truck is a lot more fun to drive in performance mode, but we only dip into it for a treat because it drinks diesel.
Our little cherub parked outside the Thames PAK’nSAVE
We headed south out of Auckland toward the Coromandel Peninsula. This peninsula measures approx 85km in length; features beautiful unspoilt beaches around the perimeter and mountainous forrest inland. The area is associated with gold mining dating back to the 19th and 20th centuries, which made a significant contribution to New Zealands economic growth at the time. We stayed is a small campground just a short drive from Thames with super friendly locals and two freshwater swimming holes. The valley was Jurassic Park-esque and our camping neighbour was actually so friendly it became incredibly hard to get him to leave.
POV: Pit stop on Oceana Highway bench.
We’d originally planned to drive up the West side of the peninsula but an old kiwi legend gave us his NZ travel book and advised we hit the East side instead. The drive across the peninsula to the East coast was carnage (25A highway), it felt like the A470 on steroids. 10km of road seemed to cover about 4km as the crow flies. I can confirm performance mode was on. By chance, we came across a virtually empty beach in Tairua. We strolled across the beach and up onto the Oceania Highway path. There were tsunami warning boards everywhere that showed how much of Taiura is at risk and how much would be affected (clue – a lot).
Shambles FC lunch
Before heading south towards Mount Maunganui, Delia Jones whipped up some lunch on the really impressive but really really impractical truck kitchenette.
Welsh Rare-bits 
Leave a comment