Category: New Zealand

My original plan to get from Tauranga to Rotorua was the direct route, SH36. But the stress we faced with the traffic on yesterday’s “SH” (SH2), plus the big up-and-down shoulderless gorge on SH36, made me open to alternatives. Luckily, our host Barbara had some! She even called up her riding-group friend Cam to help…

In addition to the “soft amenities” we got from the kind people at Athenree Holiday Park, the “hard amenities” at our first-time NZ holiday park also exceeded our expectations. Of course there were the hot pools, and the nice clean bathrooms and showers (Rett especially loved that they provided a stack of clean rags and…

The Hauraki Rail Trail runs generally north-south, and we’ve only gone about half of its length so far. But there is an east-west offshoot through the Karangahake Gorge (that the trail guide recommends as an out-and-back while staying in Paeroa for an extra night). I hadn’t made a strong plan on where we’re headed beyond…

“No room at the inn” for tonight forced us to press forward when we didn’t really want to, and while the denial didn’t result in the start of a major world religion, it was still a blessing-in-disguise. The weather was supposed to continue nice today but be rainy tomorrow, so it’s much better to be…

We woke to a morning more sunny and more dry than any we’ve had so far in this camping stretch. That again made packing up the tent easy, and easy also was breakfast since we had claimed a picnic table. We then faced the long non-easy climb back out from the beach, starting with a…