Hello! We are having a great time and already feel we have been here longer than 3 days. We started off picking up our campervan just outside of Auckland and Blane had the honor of doing the driving. It honestly takes two people, one person actually driving the car and the other person navigating and shouting comands of how to make it through a round about =) I only kid, there has been no shouting just yet, but we do talk through every turn otherwise we're going to end up on the wrong side of the road.
We passed through Auckland on our way north to Orewa beach and decided to grab lunch in the big city as we didn't have any plans to visit Auckland during out stay. We missed the exit and couldn't figure out how to get back downtown so we headed to a town called Devenport just across the bay instead. We parked, walked into town and had our first NZ meal. I had a tandori chicken burger and Blane had eggs benedict - not too different. We had beautiful views of the city and enjoyed the small town atomosphere of Devenport. We stopped off at a grocery store to stock up and then headed out of town. We made it up to Orewa around mid-afternoon and got settled in.
We have been having beautiful sunny weather during the day and then the rain rolls in around 6/7pm and storms overnight. We walked into town, but quickly realized that nothing was open on a Sunday evening. The Kiwis we have been told don't keep things open any earlier or later than they have to. We made ourselves dinner in the camper that night and were able to make it to about 8:30pm before crashing. The next morning we stuck to our training schedule and went for a 50+ minute run. We ran along the beach and up into the neighborhood. Blane and I keep saying to eachother how much NZ rem
inds us of Hawaii. It's like a perfect mix of Hawaii and the Pacific Northwest. We packed up camp then headed back down south towards the Coromadel Pennisula. On the way we took the right exit into Auckland and spent a couple hours walking around. We found the Starbucks and grabbed some coffee for the camper and a drink. The city is nice it felt like New York in flare but the size of Portland. After Auckland we jumped back into the camper (by now Blane is a pro at driving on the left side of the road and I, the master navigator) and were making our way to Coromandel Town where we were going to spend our second night. The Coromandel Pennisula is know for the green lipped mussels, they have really pretty shells. We decided to take the coastal hwy which is like our hwy 101 down the bay. The countryside here is beautiful. They have steep rolling hills covered in lush green grass spotted with trees and sheep. The colors out here are so vibrant, it's very picturesque. If we
hadn't taken the coastal hwy it should have taken about 2 1/2 hours from Auckland, however it took us a grand total of 5hrs (I made Blane stop several times to take photos so that slowed us down too). The stretch between Thames (bottom of the pennisula) and Coromadel town was the
most windy road blane and I have ever been on. They had mirrors on some of the corners so you could see oncoming traffic the turns were so sharp. But again it was so beautiful with black rock beaches, lush green hillsides, blue sky and tree tunnels. Once in Coromandel Town we stopped for dinner at the Pepper Tree, Blane had the green lip mussels and I had bluenose fish and chips - it was so good. This morning we took a walk along the beach and set off around 10AM for Whitianga. We stopped in town for lunch along the beach (we've been making all our breakfasts and lunches so far) and then continued on to Cathedral Cove in Hahei.
We got our a spot along the beach at the
campervan park and then are going to visit Hot Water Beach tonight. This is the place that has a hotspring under the sand in one spot on the beach. You go around low tide and dig yourself a little hole and soak in your own little hot tub. Low tide tonight is at 8:30pm so we'll head out there around 6:30pm and dig ourselves a two person hole and take advantage of the last few hours of daylight. Very fun. We are having a great time, it's so relaxed here. The people are so friendly and love chatting. We are keeping a list of all the things that they say differently down here, here are a few examples (in order of USA = NZ) stoplight = queue, yield = give way, exit = way out...the last one is my favorite. We are off down the penninsula tomorrow stopping for the night in Tauranga. Sorry there are no pictures, as soon as I can upload we'll get a few up for you all to see. Hope all is well at home and we'll update again soon.
Hello! We are having a great time and already feel we have been here longer than 3 days. We started off picking up our campervan just outside of Auckland and Blane had the honor of doing the driving. It honestly takes two people, one person actually driving the car and the other person navigating and shouting comands of how to make it through a round about =) I only kid, there has been no shouting just yet, but we do talk through every turn otherwise we're going to end up on the wrong side of the road. 
inds us of Hawaii. It's like a perfect mix of Hawaii and the Pacific Northwest. We packed up camp then headed back down south towards the Coromadel Pennisula. On the way we took the right exit into Auckland and spent a couple hours walking around. We found the Starbucks and grabbed some coffee for the camper and a drink. The city is nice it felt like New York in flare but the size of Portland. After Auckland we jumped back into the camper (by now Blane is a pro at driving on the left side of the road and I, the master navigator) and were making our way to Coromandel Town where we were going to spend our second night. The Coromandel Pennisula is know for the green lipped mussels, they have really pretty shells. We decided to take the coastal hwy which is like our hwy 101 down the bay. The countryside here is beautiful. They have steep rolling hills covered in lush green grass spotted with trees and sheep. The colors out here are so vibrant, it's very picturesque. If we 
most windy road blane and I have ever been on. They had mirrors on some of the corners so you could see oncoming traffic the turns were so sharp. But again it was so beautiful with black rock beaches, lush green hillsides, blue sky and tree tunnels. Once in Coromandel Town we stopped for dinner at the Pepper Tree, Blane had the green lip mussels and I had bluenose fish and chips - it was so good. This morning we took a walk along the beach and set off around 10AM for Whitianga. We stopped in town for lunch along the beach (we've been making all our breakfasts and lunches so far) and then continued on to Cathedral Cove in Hahei. 
We got our a spot along the beach at the campervan park and then are going to visit Hot Water Beach tonight. This is the place that has a hotspring under the sand in one spot on the beach. You go around low tide and dig yourself a little hole and soak in your own little hot tub. Low tide tonight is at 8:30pm so we'll head out there around 6:30pm and dig ourselves a two person hole and take advantage of the last few hours of daylight. Very fun. We are having a great time, it's so relaxed here. The people are so friendly and love chatting. We are keeping a list of all the things that they say differently down here, here are a few examples (in order of USA = NZ) stoplight = queue, yield = give way, exit = way out...the last one is my favorite. We are off down the penninsula tomorrow stopping for the night in Tauranga. Sorry there are no pictures, as soon as I can upload we'll get a few up for you all to see. Hope all is well at home and we'll update again soon.
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