On the ground

Driving on the left side of the road is truly one of the strangest sensations. All familiar reference points are useless. Each passing oncoming car feels like a game of chicken. Since the left side of my body operates at approximately a kindergarden level, operating the parking break and transmission is a mental exercise. Worst though, is the mind-twisting conspiracy hatched by the diabolic engineers of foreign cars when they swapped the position of the turn signal and windshield wiper control lever. Our first few turns were indicated not by a polite flashing of yellow light but a furious swishing and honking of wipers jumping across dry glass at high power.

Soon enough, though, we were cruising out of Auckland headed east, toward the Coromandel peninsula. It wasn’t long before the bustling four-lane motorway gave way to a progressively narrow two-lane mountain road that twisted its way up, down, around and through the lush New Zealand bush. Gigantic ferns (or trees with broad, fern-like leaves, not sure exactly yet...), several towering at twenty, thirty, maybe even fifty feet tall covered the steep hills with a dense canopy, while shorter shrubs and grasses in a thousand shades of green filled the space underneath. We arrived in Paunaui on the east side of peninsula before our room was ready, and at the suggestion of the wonderfully-friendly host, took an afternoon hike along the beach on the Pacific coast. In just two days, we dipped our feet in the far eastern reaches of the Pacific in Los Angeles, and the western side in New Zealand.

From NZ Developed

We caught dinner in Pauanui’s sister town, Tairua, before driving up Paku Drive to the head of a short trail to the peak of Mount Paku, a volcano that last erupted about 80,000 years ago. The quick but vigorous hike led to spectacular views of Pauanui, Tairua and the Alderman Islands.

From NZ Developed

So far, so good, and this is just day one! Tomorrow, more hiking, maybe swimming, a (sort-of) home cooked meal in a our motor lodge, and more sunscreen. Definitely more sunscreen.