Road Trip Edition

Because of a sequence of both unfortunate and fortunate events, it turned out that for the last week of Jody's travels, I was able to take a road trip. I wanted to see a few of the North Island destinations that I had missed in my five months here, and I had limited time due to my imminent move south.

There were three accomplish-able things on that list: Cathedral Cove on the Coromandel Peninsula, Mount Maunganui, and Taranaki. Below you will see the journey, as it  happened, though I will not post this blog until it is complete:

Days 1 & 2:

First stop: Cathedral Cove.

The drive to Coromandel was uneventful, and ended with a beautiful walk down to the coast where I saw the remains of what once was a field of active volcanoes. Since that time, the water level has risen and the volcanoes have been covered, leaving beautiful structures behind.

More importantly, I discovered that not only have I been in Middle Earth, but I'm in NARNIA.

When I took a boat tour around the coast, several locations were pointed out to me that featured in Prince Caspian. GUYS. I FOUND NARNIA.

It wasn't until I left Coromandel that things started getting interesting.

The car and I are playing a fun game called "guess my speed." Here's how it works: randomly, without warning, the speedometer and the rev count will suddenly fall below zero and stop working. Turning the car off and waiting does nothing - it decides when it will work. So I've learned to be thankful for my manual transmission, in that I can listen for my speeds. If I stay in third, I won't get above 50 kilometers per hour without noticing it (that's in town). If I'm in fourth, I can count on maintaining 80 kph. And after that, I trust that the windy roads will keep my 100 kph in check in fifth gear.

And then when I get comfortable, I'll look down and suddenly they're working again! For no reason in particular. The one redeeming piece is that I've found I'm a much less aggressive driver when I don't know my speed. I just follow traffic.

Day 3

I made it to Mt Maunganui in Tauranga on the evening of day two. Still on the east coast, it's got a vast beach and what is generously named a "mount." On the morning of day three, I took a hike up the mount.

The ascent was nothing as rigorous as our climb of Mt Ngauruhoe, but it got the blood pumping for a great view. Better than the view, however, was the man I met at the summit (Facebook readers, I apologize you have seen this twice).

The man who took this picture claimed that photos should be taken at an angle, because that's what life is: it's not perfectly square. We chatted for all of five minutes, but in that time he predicted that I would "marry a man of the land," and though I could live in the city, I belonged in the countryside. I hadn't told him a thing about me besides that I was from Minnesota - nothing about living or working in DC. He told me that I had a "boisterous and outgoing personality" and that I was doing it all right. It brings a smile to my face every time I think about it, and it is for moments like those that I travel.

Days 4 & 5

One of the big driving days, I took off from the Bay of Plenty and headed southwest, back to the other coast for a trip to Taranaki. I was bound for South Taranaki, where my friend Jason had recently moved after I met him in Hawke's Bay. The good news is, my speedometer worked the whole way. The bad news is, I got lost. I texted Jason to tell him I was 80 kms away, but didn't pull into his drive until 2 hours later.

When I told him that I was going to climb Mt Egmont while he was working, he laughed, telling me that it was covered in snow.

This is very true. Down near the base the track wasn't too bad, but it didn't take long for the snow to appear.  So I couldn't climb to the summit - for that I would have needed alpine equipment. But I climbed as far as I could, which was actually not as far as I could go up, but whether or not I could get back down on the ice.

I got close enough for a satisfactory view. The clouds parted for this photo and momentary appreciation, and I turned back around.

After settling back in and showering, the most exciting part of my day occurred: an earthquake. I was sitting on the couch, and suddenly just felt really wobbly. Looking up I saw the TV swaying back and forth and felt like I had vertigo - or  was really drunk. I'm pretty sure at this point there was a running monologue:

"Is this an earthquake? I think this in an earthquake! Oh my god, I'm in an earthquake!"

It lasted all of 30 seconds and I jumped on to GeoNet, where the quake was already confirmed, with an epicenter east of Seddon on the South Island. I felt it 500 kilometers north. It was a 6.9 quake, and superficial damage was scattered across Wellington. Apparently that was one of two big quakes, while small ones and aftershocks hit south of here all weekend.

Day 6

 Woke up to discover that on a clear day, it's quite obvious you can't climb to the summit without the proper gear. I took a drive along the coast and enjoyed the view before heaving a fabulous dinner and guitar show with Celine, a woman I met months ago at a dressage show.

Days 7 & 8

Took it easy for my last day and had a casual walk on the coast before settling in for an afternoon of reading. I took advantage of being in the "Bread Capital" - Manaia - and bought ciabatta bread and scones to enjoy. Jason and I finished off our last night with beer and cider after I actually put some effort in and cooked tea for us, and I was off the next morning for Raglan.

The car and I played the "guess my speed" game for awhile, and I listened to my 3 CDs on repeat until I pulled into the drive.

Post Road Trip (Today)

This morning I drove into Auckland and picked Jody up from the airport. We've been debriefing from her 5 week journey and my 5 week farm stay. It's been great having somebody else in the house again! Additionally, she came bearing gifts from America. Excuse me while I go gorge on chocolate.