Last night was very interesting as a storm went through HaHei and as we were on a shelf overlooking the sea at the campground, we were buffeted with strong winds and rain. The storm was long gone in the morning and we woke up to a golden glow from the rising sun and Jean covered in bites from sand flies which had apparently found her to be a delightful morsel when she was in her little hot water pool at Hot Water Beach. Fortunately Sunni had some Benedryl so Jean was able to get some relief. We left HaHei and ventured northward eventually coming to an intersection which said right to Whitianga and left to Coramandel Town. As the latter was our morning destination, we turned left. Big mistake! The road was not Hwy 25 but instead the 309 road which was and still is a dirt wagon train road. Fortunately, we discovered our error and turned back before we got too far. The north end of Whitianga was really quite a beautiful place, much newer than the older part of town we had visited the day before. We continued north with the road becoming more and more winding. Eventually we got to Coramandel Town after descending a hill that was both VERY steep but also exceedingly winding. I had to keep the maggot in 3d gear all the way down. I was to find that what we encountered was really quite tame in comparison to what we would later experience. Coramandel Town was originally a gold mining town but is now a quaint little village which thrives on tourism. While we were there all the towns people were dressed in Wild West gear as it had been declared Wild West day. Sunni, Gary, and Jean stopped at a Lions Club booth where they were selling fresh mussel fritters on bread. All 3 declared them delicious and very fresh. We saw a large group of preschool children being led down the street, all in costume, apparently off trick or treating. We saw several signs indicating Coro pies were sold at that establishment and then discovered a small building with a sign declaring it was the home of the Coro Pie so we had to go in and ask just what was a Coro Pie? Well, dumb us! Coro Pies are meat pies made in Coromandel Town. In fact, we were lectured that meat pies are the national dish of NZ and their versions were the best in NZ! So, guess what we are having for dinner tonight. We left Coramandel Town and now headed south along the coast of the Firth of Thames. On the map, it is portrayed as a long straight line along a long straight coast. Nope!! It was a cleverly fabricated lie designed to lure unsuspecting maggot drivers onto the coast road to hell! Not only was it winding, but it was very narrow and winding, and in many of the turns required you to look at one, sometimes two mirrors before venturing around the corner. Add into the equation Kiwi drivers who must have thought they were driving a racecourse and to hell with a maggot that took up 3/4 of the road coming at them, and you have a nightmarish trip. But wait, add another item into the equation, long lengths of road that suddenly became single lane roads and then you truly realize what driving the Coramandel peninsula is all about! The good news is, we survived. We decided to stay at a camp ground in a place called Tapu. It turned out to be up a long country road. When we tried to park the maggot on one of the sites, we realized the campsites were really not designed for caravans the size of the maggot as we completely blocked the road. Sunni was less than enthused about the kitchen which was really only a leanto covered by a sheet of tin. It was decided to once again venture onto the highway from hell and progress further southward. So, we are in a delightful little campsite 3.5 km north of Thames for the night. We wanted to go for a hike and discovered what appeared to be a lovely little hike behind the campsite. I am sure Edmond Hillary used it for training purposes as the trail went straight uphill. After 15 minutes of climbing, and realizing the map said 3 hours of this, we decided to return to the campground and go for a walk to town. We have now finished happy hour and will wait for dinner for a while. As there does not appear to be wifi here, I will post this tomorrow at our next campsite. This is our second to last night with Gary and Sunni as they will return to Canada on Sunday and we will trade off the maggot for a mini-maggot and head for the South Island.