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Auckland-Paihia (3.5h drive)
We bade farewell to the Acapulco Motel this morning to head north, to spend a couple of nights in Paihia and the Bay of Islands. For those who don't know, BoI is the place many Kiwis go to holiday; as the name suggests there are a handful of islands nearby.
As one heads north out of Auckland, the change in roadscape is phenomenal. The Auckland Northern Motorway gives way to the new toll motorway (enforced by ANPR, like the London congestion charge); there's a services area with a familiar sort of layout and setup. Yet the motorway then gives way, suddenly and dramatically, to a non-grade-separated single-carriageway more reminiscent of most non-trunk roads back home. The difference is that there is a bit more landscape to work around: there are short sharp hills everywhere, the road snaking its way around them with some exciting near-hairpins. There are regular passing lanes - particularly on uphill stretches - so there was no need to get frustrated at the inevitable trucks and slowcoaches; the traffic was also pretty well behaved in terms of temperament, much better than home.
We stopped in Waipu to eat our sandwiches, and were amused to find a monument to the many Scots who settled this part of Northland. A Saltire was flying near to a park which proudly proclaims itself as the location of the local Highland Games.
A further detour came as we stopped off briefly at the toilets in Kawakawa, cameras at hand. I kid ye not, dear reader; the toilets are themselves a tourist attraction. They were created by the architect-ecologist Friedrich Hundertwasser. Colourful (described as "exuberant"), they feature bright colours, apparently-mismatched tiles, walls made out of glass bottles... quite a visual feast for what is a municipal installation in the center of a village in approximately the middle of nowhere in Northland.
After we got to Paihia and checked into the motel, we went for a drive in the local environs and were gobsmacked by the terrain. My internal monologue is running short on superlatives. Small tree-covered islands pop sharply out of the Pacific, in scenes I've only ever seen on the wall of the Wrestlers. C reckons they're photoshopped; if so the virtual reality programmers have pulled off a blinder this time. Personally I think the conclusion is obvious: Slartibartfast was moonlighting!
We bade farewell to the Acapulco Motel this morning to head north, to spend a couple of nights in Paihia and the Bay of Islands. For those who don't know, BoI is the place many Kiwis go to holiday; as the name suggests there are a handful of islands nearby.
As one heads north out of Auckland, the change in roadscape is phenomenal. The Auckland Northern Motorway gives way to the new toll motorway (enforced by ANPR, like the London congestion charge); there's a services area with a familiar sort of layout and setup. Yet the motorway then gives way, suddenly and dramatically, to a non-grade-separated single-carriageway more reminiscent of most non-trunk roads back home. The difference is that there is a bit more landscape to work around: there are short sharp hills everywhere, the road snaking its way around them with some exciting near-hairpins. There are regular passing lanes - particularly on uphill stretches - so there was no need to get frustrated at the inevitable trucks and slowcoaches; the traffic was also pretty well behaved in terms of temperament, much better than home.
They don't mess around with these roads here, do they? The lack of safety fencing focusses the mind; when there *is* a crash barrier you slow down even more because if *they* think it's dangerous, it bloody well is...
We stopped in Waipu to eat our sandwiches, and were amused to find a monument to the many Scots who settled this part of Northland. A Saltire was flying near to a park which proudly proclaims itself as the location of the local Highland Games.
A further detour came as we stopped off briefly at the toilets in Kawakawa, cameras at hand. I kid ye not, dear reader; the toilets are themselves a tourist attraction. They were created by the architect-ecologist Friedrich Hundertwasser. Colourful (described as "exuberant"), they feature bright colours, apparently-mismatched tiles, walls made out of glass bottles... quite a visual feast for what is a municipal installation in the center of a village in approximately the middle of nowhere in Northland. After we got to Paihia and checked into the motel, we went for a drive in the local environs and were gobsmacked by the terrain. My internal monologue is running short on superlatives. Small tree-covered islands pop sharply out of the Pacific, in scenes I've only ever seen on the wall of the Wrestlers. C reckons they're photoshopped; if so the virtual reality programmers have pulled off a blinder this time. Personally I think the conclusion is obvious: Slartibartfast was moonlighting!
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