Friday morning we woke to more sunshine. After a breakfast of bagel sandwiches which we made in our room, we repacked the car and headed south towards Auckland. We probably enjoyed the view more than on our way up. Paul’s getting more used to driving and the roads up north. He hasn’t turned on the wipers by mistake in the last day and only once has he gone to get in the wrong side to get into the driver’s seat 😉.


We stayed on the main highway through Auckland so saw some of the downtown views from the bridge. We had a view of the Sky Tower which is just under 1100’ tall. It is the second highest structure in the southern hemisphere but no comparison to the CN Tower in Toronto which is 1800’ high!


We arrived at our motel for the night in Thames – Rolleston Motel. This one wasn’t as nice – still similar cooking facilities and it looks like it was updated more recently. The bed wasn’t very comfortable – thin mattress and hard – quite a contrast to the 10-12” plush mattresses we’ve become accustomed to! However, no screens on windows and no AC. Thankfully there was a pedestal fan in the room!
Tomorrow we travel the Coromandel Peninsula.