…..back to Auckland. My time in Rotorua has come to an end, and I have really enjoyed it. It’s given me the taste for exploring New Zealand a little bit more. It’s so easy to get around, with good roads and good signposts, and very little traffic, so driving is a pleasure. And the weather has been really fantastic – I was expecting a “British” summer, but have got something much better – lovely hot days (but cool evenings) and blue skies all day long – not sure it’s always that way. Perhaps next time a motorhome, there are loads of them about. So I decide to take the long way back to Auckland, and drive over to the coast and take the Pacific Coast Highway north to take in the wonders of the New Zealand coastline. I get to the coast – where is the sea? Nowhere to be seen! My map didn’t show it, but the land must rise from the coast very steeply, so the drive along the Pacific Coast yields very few glimpses of the sea! The one bit I did find is in the pic – with rolling waves and beautiful blue sea – so I had to stop to have fish and chips! But most of the drive was through heavily wooded mountains, up and down (the car struggled at times), around really sharp hairpin bends with rather alarming drops to one side. But spectacular scenery. When you finally hit the flatter bits outside of Auckland you see again all the blue and white agapanthus – they seem to grow like weeds here, as do avocados – 12 for 75p advertised all the way along the road. This must be the fruit growing area too as there were also pick your own for plums, nectarines, peaches. Tonight am ensconced in a good little motel near the airport (complete with palm fringed swimming pool – see pic), ready to take my hire car back in the morning, and fly to my next destination – Fiji.
