Day 2 - Auckland to Taupo Bay
The arrival of day 2 found us in full holiday mode, up ridiculously early and ready to start the day! Clarkey being Clarkey, this meant we needed to hunt down a satisfactory breakfast to keep her grumbling tummy at bay...this resulted in high pressure Googling to find the best breakfast in Auckland.
With a venue selected, we headed out at 8:00 to join the rumbling early morning rush hour traffic. A short march to the high street found us searching perilously for Chuffed, our venue of choice. Now, under the immense pressure of Clarkey being hungry, her navigational skills lacked some what, so we stomped up and down the street, with a lot of huffing! Venue located, we entered a very quirky and trendy coffee house, renowned for their 'cold drip' and fresh home brew; graffiti artwork donned the walls and tattoo clad staff serenely moved between the tabled filled with business people out for a 'working breakfast'. I opted for sour dough toast with scrambled eggs and portobello mushrooms, Clarkey opted for lime, gin and juniper infused salmon on homemade crumpets, with smashed avocado and beetroot jus....food t*sser.
Breakfast and two coffees done, we sped back to the apartment to pack and grab a taxi to Travellers Autobarm to collect our fun bus. Paperwork done and payment made, we were presented with Kylie, our bus. We were shown around and given detailed instructions, handed the keys and we were on our way up highway 1. Our buses are named upon first sight and with the number plate being KYY I couldn't help myself and Kylie it was.
Our first stop was to get supplies and we were advised to head to Albany and go to the Pan 'N' Save. Now, imagine Costco on steroids and you might come close the size of this supermarket. Floor to ceiling there towers of products and boxes waiting to be unpacked, and fruit and veg akin to Morrisons but 10x the size....were we in out element! We also experienced what you might call a 'red neck' Kiwi, telling me the apples 'were sh*t'....I smiled politely and quickly walked off! $200 of reserves later, we were hitting the road, heading for Taupo Bay.
Highway 1 runs the length of Northland and is like the M1, only quieter. We quickly ate up some km's enjoying the changing scenery and vivid colours that the landscape provided. Because the northern peninsular juts out to the sea and back in again, you go from looming grass covered volcanic hills to the open expanse of the sea every half and hour or so. Keen to make headway we drove for an hour or so before detouring to find the Wangaria falls. This is a secluded picture perfect spot featuring a spectacular waterfall. Unfortunately, it being so well signposted, it was also the destination of every other intrepid traveller heading along route 1. The roar of the tumbling water and the eerie mist created as it crashed into the pool below was beautiful but we had places to get to so we headed back to Kylie.
Our next stop was totokaka to see what our book told us was one of the lonely planets top 3 coastline. It's easy to see why it made it into the top 3. From here we hit the road again for the long drive to Taupo; the roads were windy and steep and Kylie being an automatic tried to keep pace with the speeding cars but we didn't fancy taking corners on two wheels with a sheer drop next to us, so stuck to the recommended limit on each corner...it's fair to say the cars behind us were not impressed! Finally, we saw a sign for Taupo Bay holiday park and just a final 11km before we hit our destination.
We arrived at a beautifully quaint holiday park, checked in at the office and found a pitch to hook up. Once parked up we wandered to the restrooms and happened across Gill and Glenn finishing their dinner on the picnic tables. Cuddles, hugs and kisses ensued as standard; both looked in great health and uber excited for the festivities.
We grabbed our supplies and made a quick salmon stir fry in the camp kitchen and then hit the hay, grabbing much needed sleep before the weekend gets into full swing.