NZ Day 2.

Tuesday 29th March.




This morning back to the rental depot and spoke to Tania about the tyre problems. She got top marks for customer service and we were soon on our way after they had replaced the whucked tyre . We were heading for the Coromandel area. Rolling green hills, lots of very fat cattle, dairy herds, and very, very green grass. Most of the places we passed through have names that are almost unprounceable to us….we also found out that it is perfectly acceptable to pronounce ‘wh’ as ‘wh’ and not ‘f’.

The road follows the coastline most of the way making the drive very picturesque…..for the passenger anyway. The road/highway is incredibly windy and the ocean was a most beautiful shade of cerulean……I call it blue though! At one stage we saw a huge pod of dolphins feeding – some of them were jumping right out of the water. As we had a rather late start we only covered a short distance and stayed the night at Harbour Side Park, Whitianga, which was not actually harbour side…..young chap in the office quoted us $28 per person per night. As we were tired and there was no other park available we decided we had no choice but to pay this exorbitant fee. Val asked if it was their high season and was told yes – until after Easter…….very strange, park was virtually empty - wonder what it’s like in the low season. Anyway, Val tendered $100 and received $60 in change - we just walked out, parked the van -still trying to understand New Zealand maths. $40 was still excessive as you then had to pay for a shower. Fortunately the van is equipped with a shower and toilet so we saved the massive amount of $1 in not having to pay for a shower.
As we were wandering through the park, post drinkies, we saw our very first (for both of us) apple tree. I was able to reach one small apple and it was most tasty. And so, after a few more sundowners, Val cooked a nice meal and then it was beddi bies for us.