[Nz2003] Auckland -> Wanganui

[Edmund A. Hintz]

Cheers,

    We departed Auckland fairly late on Monday morning, about noon.
Headed south on 1, had a bit of lunch in Hamilton, took a few photos of
clouds in the pristine sky, then continued on down 3 to the coast. The
drive from Otorohanga to the coast is quite nice, reminds me a lot of the
central CA coast on 101-farmland to begin with, then hills with forests,
and finally rugged coastline. The forests are a bit different, more
tropical in appearance, much like a rainforest, but the concept is the
same. We beat feet through this section, didn't get any photos, as we
wanted to make the coast in time for the sunset over the Tasman Sea. Made
it in time, and after some wandering about found the Mokau Motel. Quaint
little place, decor from the 60's, great veiw of Mokau bay, fully stocked
kitchenette with 'fridge, and Lion (the resident cat) all for $80NZ for
the night. Once we got the room sorted and dinner ordered we got down to
the beach, and enjoyed the sunset, several pictures are linked below. The
photos of the bay and the moon are the view from the motel room; the main
door was a sliding glass window providing the panorama from the room
itself. In the AM, before we split, we talked to the gal running the
place, she says she's planning to sell out and retire in the next year or
so, she'll be asking $400k NZD for the place, we told her to give us a
holler when she does. It would be a fun business to run, right there on
the beach. And if we could cash out on our house in the Bay Area along
with another $50k or so USD we'd be halfway there if the current exchange
rate holds.

    After leaving Mokau we were of course on route 3 all the way down to
Wanganui; it's called the Surf Highway, with good reason. Surf beaches
are as plentiful as sheep and cattle on that road. It would be a helluva
lot of fun to do that route over the course of 2-3 weeks in a VW
campervan with a surfboard. We stopped off for a bit at Kaupokonui Beach,
great little place with a river running into the ocean. After a good hour
or so of wandering about the beach and playing on the kiddie playset we
continued on down to Wanganui, where we are currently at the Riverside
motel. The rooms with river views were booked, but the one we got is
still quite nice. It's really a 2 bedroom apartment, roughly the size of
the one we lived in back in Sacramento, and along with the kitchen
there's a full bathroom with jacuzzi tub. $105 NZD, roughly $60 USD. Not
bad at all for such a nice big place in a costal town right next to the
river. Tomorrow we're on to Wellington, and we've got our ferry to South
Island booked for Thursday (it's already Tue. night as I write this on
the other side of the date line).

Scenic photos:
http://www.hintz.org/photos/public/3-18/3-18.html
People photos:
https://www.hintz.org/photos/private/3-18-people/3-
18-people.html

Regards,

Ed Hintz
ed@hintz.org