Weekend Getaway

This past weekend, me and Mark received a van and drove out to the Coromandel Peninsula to check out a concert, about 4 hours away from Auckland. I was really excited to do this since it would be my first venture outside of the main city since i'd arrived. Refer to the map, Coromandel is to the right of Auckland.


So we loaded up the van with all the necessities: bread, peanut butter, chips and beer. We chose our complimentary DVD's: War of the Worlds and Lethal Weapon...1. Yes, these were the best options. It was lucky for us that one of the first scenes of LW1 features a bottomless Mel Gibson with a mullet. Anyways, we headed out on the road, the left side of it that is.

The drive was long. But we chose a "scenic" route that we thought would follow the water the whole way. We were half right. Here are a few shots from the trip up:








Making it to Coromandel Town around 9 at night, we were glad to finally be at our destination. The drive up was treacherous at times. Many areas of New Zealand are uninhabited and you can drive for miles on unguarded roads, barely large enough for one car nevermind two. The country is extremely mountainous, only adding to the craziness of the ride. And they're big fans of the "one lane bridge" here; your guess is as good as mine. This is what we saw most of the ride up there, not much room for error. What you can't see is the continuous 300 foot drop to the left.



Getting there, we drove through the city in about 8 seconds. Bar? Check. Gas station? Check. Everything else needed to sustain life? Try the next town. Asking the station attendant where the concert venue was for tomorrow night, he referenced a local map, showing Coroglen as our real destination...about 2 hours drive away. Oops. Anyways, we made due and set up shop in the bar's parking lot, knocking back a few beers with Mel and Danny Glover. We checked out the local bar scene, got as many dirty looks as your local pedophile and headed off to bed. And awoke to a park ranger knocking on our car window at 7:30am...with a warning.


Oh well. So that morning we ventured out to Coroglen, driving one of the most ridiculous roads I could ever imagine, called the 309 road. Named after the number of turns in it, 80% of it unguarded and concrete chipped from what road remains, it was a little daunting. We arrived to the town and realized a trend of business development. It was a bar, and that's it. A little down on the idea of a concert being held here later that night, we decided to make the most of the day.

We headed to a place called Hahei. Hahei is an area about 30 minutes north of Coroglen, and features a place called Cathedral Cove. I will just show some pictures, because my words will not describe it well:





Feeling a little inspired, we headed back to Coroglen to get a few drinks before the show. Grabbing a case of beer, we made a quick dash for the hills to hang out on a farm with some cattle. We jumped an unassuming fence and hung out for the next few hours with some nature. After a few cold ones and some close encounters with the locals (cows), we headed back to the show. Jumping the fence back to the road my knee momentarily brushed the wire, sending an electric jolt through my body. The next few minutes are hazy, though Mark will not let me forget that I described the feeling as a "sonic boom through my body". So I was electrocuted. Ok, even I'll admit that is hilarious. And I don't get any points for being smart on this trip, but we already knew I wouldn't exert my brain too much anyways.

So we got to the concert, and to our surprise there were about 1000 people there. Coming from all over the country to see this act, Tiki Taane, a local Maori rap/reggae/folk act. This summer he reached #1 on the New Zealand charts. The song that succeeded him? "In the Air Tonight" from Phil Collins. This is dead serious...it came out in 1981 and charted in 2008. Yes, I am as puzzled as you are. Here are some pics and an annoyingly unclear video from the show:




The night was fun, and afterwards we camped out again, this time with no problems. We hit the road early the next morning to head back and after a few scenic stops...



...we were back in Auckland. And city life resumes. It was a great and exhausting trip, though it's weird to arrive back at the hostel with a sense of relief and comfort. I will post all the pictures from the last two weeks up soon, until then i'm out.