Another 06:30 rise, this time I awoke before the alarm sounded. We had a toast breakfast and left Opoutere by 08:00. We had planned to travel the pacific coast highway around the Coromandel Peninsula, starting in the east and making our way across the '309' road from Coromandel to Whitiangi, passing by castle rock which is the core of an old volcano. Sadly the sky was completely overcast with grey clouds and the odd shower so we drove around the peninsula bypassing the '309' road and paused only briefly at Cooks Bay and Coromandel. The peninsula is beautiful, more forest land and scenic green valleys. As we left Opoutere in the early hours we drove down in to the valley and there was mist moving within the treetops. It looked rather haunting yet mystical. As you drive past rivers and streams you get excellent reflections of the forest on the hills. Each time you turn a corner or travel around a bend you are presented with more breathtaking scenery. At the north of the peninsula we pulled over for a photograph and a dozen cockerels and chickens reached the summit of the hill on which we were parked and wandered straight towards the car. They stopped in their tracks, stared at us and crowed, one after the other. It was hysterical! Later on we passed a falcon sat in the middle of the road eating from roadkill who was completely unperturbed by us driving past him at 100 km/h. As we drove back down the west coast of the peninsula there were Pohutukawa trees lining the edge of the road which were just coming into bloom displaying their bright red flowers. We stopped for lunch in Thames which seemed to us the busiest place we had yet visited in New Zealand.
We continued south heading towards the east coast and the Bay of Plenty which is home to White Island, an active volcano. Most of the time you are driving in New Zealand you are the only vehicle on the road. Occasionally a loaded logtruck appears but soon passes you by in the opposite direction. There is no fear of road rage here!
Ian began to tire after a while and I took over the driving as we approached Tauranga and completed the remaining 153 kilometres to Opotiki where I had arranged for us to stay tonight.
Our total journey today was 420 kilometres from Opoutere to Opotiki.
Copyright 2002 Helen Fuller. All rights reserved.