On the Way to Auckland

Life goes on after Hobbiton, so we kept moving towards Auckland. We drove north to Mt. Maunganui, on the Bay of Plenty. Our Holiday Park was literally at the base of the mountain, and directly on the beach. We slept as close to the ocean as possible, and fell asleep to the waves.

Mt. Maunganui seems to be a surf town, and while neither of us surf, the vibe of the town appeals to us. We hiked up Mt. Maunganui to have a view of the ocean to the North, the town of Mt. Maunganui to the east, and Tauranga across the bay to the south. The bird in the second picture is a Tui bird.

Once down the mountain, we walked into town to explore, and were rewarded with a brew pub called Mount Brewing Co. We sampled all their beers, and settled on a pint of the Lager. Alan is sad because this is when we found out that the Royals lost in Game 7.

In the morning, October 31, we got on the road. Several people have recommended exploring the Coromandel Peninsula, but I couldn't find anything specific in our guide book to make me work it in. So we drove on, and reached Auckland in the afternoon. Our adventure for the day was to hike around Karangahake Gorge. Lonely Planet recommends a 1.5 hour (one way) hike on the "Historic Walkway", but we were not able to identify which path this was. So from the car park, we headed along the road, past the remains of structures built to handle the gold rush in this area around 1880. When presented with a railway tunnel, we turned onto that path, walking 1 km through the sparsely lit damp. This was tough for Gracyn, whose imagination turned toward that episode of the Walking Dead where Glenn goes in the tunnel after Maggie.

When we emerged from the tunnel, there was a sign on a trail off to the left for a Winery 200m away. I couldn't resist. It was Ohinemuri Estate Winery. So I tasted 4 wines, and enjoyed them all. The gentleman at the winery indicated that the parking lot where we started our hike was just up their drive, and indeed it was a quick walk back to our van, having accidentally gone in a circle. He had recommended following the trail for Scotchman's Cove, so we started along that trail and were immediately rewarded with views along the gorge. Alan is in the distance in the first picture.

We were obliged to turn back after about 15 minutes, as the trail was closed for safety inspection. All in all, this was a beautiful hike/walk, and we would recommend it to anyone.

Once we arrived in Auckland, we had thoughts of heading into the city in search of Halloween festivities, but couldn't find anything that looked all that interesting, so we decided on a night at the movies.  While seeing Ghostbusters was tempting, we saw This Is Where I Leave You. As we were handing the theatre employee our tickets, a guy tried to walk in without a ticket, and when he was stopped he said, "But it's Halloween. Movies are free tonight, right?" You gotta give the guy credit for trying. Stay tuned for our adventures in Auckland.