February 18, 2013
It’s a long drive to Tauranga, about 6 hours from Opua, but it was fun to see some new territory when we got south of Auckland. After going through the city and continuing southeast, we entered the Waikato region, our first time out the Northland and Auckland regions. We drove through miles of farmland as we passed under the Coromandel Peninsula before rejoining the coast and entering the Bay of Plenty region about 2 hours later.
The drive took us through some tiny towns before reaching the larger town of Paeroa, home of the L&P lemon soft drink. If you don’t realize this before entering the town, you will before you exit as there are banners, a large restaurant/cafe/shop and a giant bottle of L&P along the main street to remind you.
The most thrilling and/or harrowing part of the drive is going through the Karangahake Gorge. The gorge was formed by the Ohinemuri River and is a deep canyon in the mountain range that separates the farmlands of Waikato from the coastal Bay of Plenty. The road is winding and narrow and there’s no room for error. Driving east, your car is only inches from the sheer rock walls of the canyon. On those sections where you’re not looking with horror at rock walls whizzing by inches from your face, the scenery is spectacular.
Once you survive and exit the gorge, you come out into the coastline of the Bay of Plenty, known for its warm, sunny weather and for being a very popular beach vacation destination. After you come to the coast, you head south and go through the town of Katikati, the “mural town,” with over 40 murals depicting various historical events. It’s kind of neat, but nothing we’d ever go out of our way to see and frankly a letdown from what it was hyped up to be. Everyone has their own tastes, though, and a lot of people seem to love it.
We continued down the coast and 30 minutes later entered the town of Tauranga, looking around as anxiously as dogs looking out the window near the park. It looked like it could be a really neat place. –Cyndi
