Today was the first day of our road trip. We meant to start as early as possible but staying up late for small New Year's Eve celebration and Grace's jetlag made it impossible for us to wake up any earlier than 8am. Thus, we postponed the car ferry to Auckland city to 9am. Grace really enjoyed the whole experience of the car ferry. First stop was to drop off Jet and Lilith at our friend Pras's house. They would be staying there for the next 8 days.
Although the road trip was only loosely planned (like any good road trip should be!), our intention for the first few days was to drive up the east coast of NZ to Northland, stopping to enjoy the beautiful beaches along the way, then head back down the west coast, taking time to visit the world's largest Kauri trees. After that we planed to do south of Auckland, including Waitomo (glowworm caves!), Mt Taranaki (Fuji stand-in!), Wellington (Weta workshop!), MAYBE the Tongariro Crossing (hi mom!), and just slowly make our way back to Auckland.
General tiredness from the New Year's eve made it hard for us to move fast. We stopped by Manuka city to shop for some last minute essentials, had a quick cup of coffee, and in my case, a huge bowl of Wonton noodle soup, and with some" Born to be wild" blasting, we finally hit the road for our (un)expected adventure.
Driving up the east coast of NZ, we resisted stopping too often to enjoy the beautiful sandy shoreline to make up for lost time. We reached Leigh, and had a quick stop to enjoy the view, take a pictures, and let Grace soaked her feet in the warm waters of the Hauraki Gulf. Off we headed to Mangawhai Heads.... we had wanted to stop there but the holiday crowds were just too crazy. We decided to move on to Waipu to enjoy the view without the hassle of the crowds.
It was a long day of driving, and we decided to camp at Bream Bay, which is a mile long beach with a huge oil refinery at the end of the beach. It was a great place for a walk on the beach after dinner. It was a bit to dark to take pictures of the beautiful views, so as Hannah cooked dinner (pickled mustard Taiwan-style ramen noodles!), we decided to wake up and drink our coffee on the beach. We had an early night knowing that tomorrow we would have an even longer drive to the Kauri forest reserve. Hannah woke up early and dragged Grace out of bed (kicking and moaning) to watch the sun rise, but like a dolt she forgot to take pictures. Oh well, they will have the memories. Sonny was too lazy/smart to follow them. We all quickly drank our coffee and continued the drive north.
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| Fresh and ready to go! |
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| Grace on the car ferry |
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| The fold-out table was pretty handy! |
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| Hannah grabs the beer |
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| Sonny needs a beer after so many hours with two sisters |
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| Hannah and Grace cooking dinner |
awesome job on the van!
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