27, 28 April Leaving Sydney, getting to NZ

Quest on Dixon... the 'lobby'
Leaving our Sydney digs

Loading up to go

Sydney in the background..sigh

Kia Ora,

Our Britz camper van is a bit clunky, after the Maui model.  However, two days and we will make the best of it...or whine/wine.  Mimi drove today, power shifting the manual transmission, daring the weak off the thin, winding roads (with signs that often read’ Shoulder gone missing’, or something akin to that; or ‘Sharp turn, watch for oversized loads coming the other way.’ etc...) We eventually made our way to the upper portion of Coromandel, Coromandel Town.  So what if Mimi stalled three times - once on an uphill blind curve and twice after that? 

Having loved Top Ten Holiday Parks, we drove right to the one in Coromandel - which turns out to be 5km out of town on more winding roads and quite dismal.Once we had secured Power Site #86, we went food shopping as we pictured a nice lamb and salad dinner, cooked ourselves, overcoming the gloom of today’s clouds, spitting rain and sad Top Ten.  One food store in town, making us long for the inventories of the closest 7Eleven. Decided to go out to dinner instead and all was good in our world again. Then we returned to Less-Than-Ten Top Ten campground to get all cozied up for the night only to discover that there was no power cord to be found in our camper van. We had watched the special video and were told that the ‘camper shown is from a different company, but the same basic model that you are getting.’ (featuring a man who at one point of the video was suddenly ten pounds lighter and sporting a mustache - only to revert to his original self minutes before the end of the video. Hmmmmmmm...) At any rate, we were prepared. Searched high and low for said power cord. Denny called company while I delved into another fun if not mindless Hiassen novel. Guy from Top Ten comes out and asked if we had checked power box. Nope. Et voila! We had a different model camper than the one shown in video. Really? 

Arriving in Auckland and disposing of
nuts

How cool is that...outside while one
waits for pick-up

Oh no.. what's that stick thingy - on
the LEFT??!!

Home sweet home

Mimi excited about
left-handed shifting

A bit bigger than the last one!

From Thames to Coromandel Town,
on the Coromandel Peninsula

Can you see the long winding road?

Just beautiful

One of those 'over-sized vehicles' signs
warned drivers about...hmmmm..

Closing in on Coromandel Town after over an hour
to go 40 miles.

In Coromandel Town

Bar/Pokie (Betting)/Pool
Very classy

Mr Pale Ale Happy Guy!

But what a meal! I ate green-tipped
mussels. Local favorite. In white wine sauce.
Delish!

A bit of restaurant/hotel history

So, it is early evening and we are reading and playing gin rummy to the lights of our camper van’s interior.  Nice bed set-up though, at knee level versus the climb to a loft in previous camper.  In the morning we have two beaches in our sights for walking, and driving to the Eastern side of the Coromandel (for our final full day on this trip).  Sigh, as we will miss the Royal wedding, but I suspect post wedding coverage will run into our return.  

When (rare evenings) we have had telly, in a real room, we encounter about 10 channels.  Surfing them, we usually encounter one news channel, two footy games in progress, one animated channel or game show, and about five cooking channels.  These cooking channels often show competitive cooking.  Format?  Two or three master chefs with minions work below in kitchens, while above sits a panel of three or four cooking experts.  The chefs are on the clock, working on about 10 dishes concurrently.  It is a beehive, and a commentator circulates among the panel, asking questions like, “Kudra, what is Jean-Pierre adding to that bisque?  Might it, it couldn’t be, beetroot extract???”  Or, “Look, she is sheathing those asparagus in....in...lentil husks.  I think that will take the taste way over the top...and you?”  When they reach this stage I’m long in bed, UNLESS I can find Two and a Half men, which periodically pops up (reruns from Charlie’s better days, if there really was such a thing). 

Maybe it IS time to go home!