Worst Blog Ever

We got up early this morning to ensure that our long road trip ahead wasn't made very much longer by driving through Auckland.  We timed it so that we would reach Auckland just after the rush was dying down.  We started hitting heavy traffic just outside of Auckland at about 9:30 am.  It probably took about an hour to get through the entire city.  All-in-all, it wasn't too slow going.  We probably averaged a speed of about 60-70 KM/hr.

After Auckland we were on a toll road unlike any I've seen in Canada.  Instead of stopping to pay the toll, you get your picture taken and simply pay online within five days of your travel.  Kristie brought up the point of people who don't have Internet access while on Holiday, but they also had a method of paying via mobile phone, or if you don't have a phone, then you could have chosen a well marked exit that avoided the toll highway.

Since we made it past Auckland, we were settling into the rest of the journey kind of free and easy.  We stopped in a little town called Warkworth where we took a boardwalk trail around their Kauri tree forest.

After leaving Warkworth, we stopped to get some food in Whangarei.  Of all the towns we had stopped in until this point, this was our least favorite.  It just seemed to be lacking a personality.  The town centre seemed to utilitarian and uninteresting.  We tried finding an interesting place to stop for a picnic, as they were located on an estuary, but even that wasn't anything special.  We did finally manage to find a good cafe to eat lunch, but had to sit outside the City Counsel chambers to eat.  All in all, Whangarei was quite disappointing.

After Whangarei, we stopped at Kawakawa to see their world famous bathrooms.  True Story!  Apparently, the bathrooms at Kawakawa were designed by a world famous designer.  Not only did they look really interesting, they were also clean and functional!

Further along our drive, we stopped for a break at Bay of Islands.  This area is quite nice and picturesque, but a bit too touristy for our taste.  There were quite a few places for photo ops, and would probably be quite nice for a short visit, but not a destination in our opinion.

Our last stop was our destination, here in Cooper's Beach.  When we arrived, the sun was just about completely set, but what we were able to see was absolutely amazing!  The bach itself is beautiful, functional, and wanting for nothing.  It is spacious, clean, equipped with large deck and barbecue along side.  Can't wait to see what it all looks like in the morning as the ocean is only about 20 metres from our deck!

After unpacking everything, we thought we should go into Manganui to try out their, much talked about, Manganui Fish Shop.  The Fish Shop is built on pylons over the water, so you can see the ocean lapping directly under you, through the floor boards.  Kristie and I both ordered one piece of their freshly caught, Bluenose and a scoop of chips between us, and I had a squid ring.  The fish was absolutely wonderful!  It was lightly battered, and served in traditional newsprint; as all fi & chi should be.  The only downside was that the chips weren't home-made; they were McCains.  This was probably the second best fish & chips that I have had here in NZ; the first being from Waikanea, a town very close to Wellington.

After almost 11 hours on the road, by the time we got back to the bach, we were pretty tired, so now it is off to bed.

See you tomorrow.

We woke up pretty early today; around 6:00 am, on account of going to bed so early yesterday as well as the fact that Daylight saving had ended as of last night.  We had quick breakfast of muffins and coffee that we had brought with us as supplies.  Then, after a quick shower, we headed off to a couple of the beaches we had heard about.  The first one we got to was Manu beach which was already packed with people due to a surfing competition that was happening.

After watching the competition from far up above, we continued to Whale beach.  Whale beach was also packed with surfers, not for a competition, but simply for the tasty waves.  Both of these beaches were only beaches in the sense that water met shore; neither one of them were sandy beaches, just large waves and huge rocks.



We headed back in the opposite direction and watched a bit more of the surfing competition while letting the dogs out for a walk near the water.  From Manu beach we could see a huge sandy beach not far away.  After the dogs did their duty (giggle...duty!), we drove to find the sandy beach.  We took a narrow road leading into some residential housing, but we also saw a scenic reserve trail that headed down to the beach.

Wow, what a beach!  It was long, sandy, lots-o-waves, but not such huge surf that you couldn't go swimming.  And a huge plus was that dogs were welcome!  Kristie and I grabbed a corner of beach, near a large rock, and just enjoyed the sunny weather and playing in the water with the pups.  After a couple hours, we started getting hungry, so we came back to the home-stay for the left over pizza we had for dinner last night.

Not long after eating lunch, we headed out again to a place called bridal veil falls, a place about 15 KM from our home-stay.  Unfortunately, upon arrival, we saw that they didn't allow dogs, so we didn't get a chance to see what all the fuss was about.  Luckily, the drive was absolutely gorgeous, and we have another chance to check it out on our return trip in a week's time.  Although we didn't get to see the falls, we stopped at a wind farm lookout and enjoyed a locally roasted coffee.

We dropped the dogs off at the home-stay and then went to explore the shops in Raglan.  We found some funky art shops, and some other stores as well as scoped out some restaurants we thought we might like for dinner.  We stopped at a cafe called ??? where we enjoyed a lovely iced chocolate drink and a walnut brownie...Both were absolutely yummers!

We headed back to the home-stay to pick up the dogs for another walk along the great beach.  At this time, the tide had receded quite a bit, so we were able to take a really long walk that wouldn't have been as easy if the tide were in.  Finally, after the walk, we headed back into town to get a meal of Indian takeaway from a little place called Nameste.

Now, after eating, a shower, and packed up for our early road trip tomorrow, we can settle down to watch an episode of House.

Note: You can view all of our photos here: Picasa Web Album.

We started off today with a long drive ahead of us, but luckily we were already almost completely packed and were able to get out at 7:15 am.

The weather for the drive started out pretty well and although there were a few clouds along the way, all in all, the weather was great for travel.

Our first rest stop was Taihape where we stopped at New World to buy new toothbrushes and toothpaste, as we had forgotten ours.  After that we walked over to a cafe where we bought a hot chocolate and a friand.  We then took the dogs for a quick walk around the town's central park so that they could relieve themselves and stretch their legs.  On the way out of town we found this particular point of interest: Gumboot Park, where the central sculpture was a corrugated iron gumboot.

After leaving Taihape, our next stop was Turangi (south of Taupo)--where we had a veggie burger picnic.  We encountered some water fowl here, including swans and ducks.  We also saw Canada Geese, but they had too much attitude to get their photos taken (hence, only swans and ducks below).

Me made a really quick rest stop not long afterwards (can't remember the town's name) where we came across a camper sculpted out of bricks.

Our final rest stop before reaching our destination was a little town called Tirau.  Apparently, they've taken decorative corrugated iron to the Nth degree here.  Many of the town's shops are adorned by corrugated iron advertisements, including two building made out of corrugated iron that are sculpted to resemble a sheep and a dog!

We arrived in Raglan at about 5:00 pm, where we met the owner of our home stay.  After a few quick pleasantries, we took the dogs for a walk to the beach, bought a pizza for a picnic along the water, and then took the dogs for a longer walk, once the remaining pizza was in our fridge.  To cap off the day, we stopped in a little ice cream parlour for a little sumpin'-sumpin'.

Day one, is now over, we're both very tired and going to bed at about 9:00 pm.

Note: You can view all of our photos here: Picasa Web Album.

Tomorrow, we're getting up at about 6:30 am and will hopefully be in the car, and on the road by 7:00 am.  We have about 8 hours worth of driving to do, to reach our destination so while I plan to do at least 10,000 steps, I don't know if I'll be breaking any records.