Exploring near Auckland
Wednesday 2004-03-24
Today I decided to do a day trip to the Coromandel Penninsula. My friend Carol had recommended the Coromandel to me. It's about a 3 hour drive to get there. I got a late start out of the B&B and then had trouble finding the correct road. I wanted to drive there using a coastal route, but the map I was using apparently had the roads labeled incorrectly (or more likely I read it incorrectly). Once I found the right road it was getting too late for me to go there, so instead I decided to just explore the backroads in the area (which is about 45 minutes east of Auckland). It was a beautiful drive. Farmland, animals grazing and lots of green grass and trees. And very few houses or people. I finally ended up on the coast and in a small town called Beachlands. I also visited the beach in another nearby small town whose name I forget. This is definately an area to invest in some nice beachfront real estate. I continued driving the back roads until I finally made it to the main highway #1. I took that back to Auckland to do a little final shopping since I would be leaving tomorrow morning. I left Auckland about 5pm and got into a huge traffic jam. Wonderful... traffic was one thing I was hoping to leave behind at home. When I got back to the B&B Karen was back from her overnight trip and announced that she had gotten two(!) job offers! She was all smiles and was just beside herself with joy. In order to celebrate Karen's good fortune, Karen, myself and Mike & Landy (the owners of the B&B) finished off that bottle of Scotch from the previous night.