Day 4: An adventurous scary day driving

We woke up with the rain mocking us. Justin suggested preparing breakfast for us so we had scrambled eggs, sausages and bacon. Finally the rain subsided so we sent Justin to work in the University of Hamilton before we headed for an adventurous expedition.

The ride there was pretty bumpy. I’m not talking literal terms here but well it was my first time driving...
a) for such a long period
b) in New Zealand
c) an acquaintance’s car
d) through a pretty mountainous area
e) in foggy conditions for a short period of time
f) at about 90-100kph for the ride…
g) with Karen giving me directions like gesturing while saying “turn here” (note that my eyes are on the road)
h) without planning ahead. We purely used road signs. How scary is tat?
i) With many cars whizzing past me at any given opportunity. Wellllll…need I say more?

this was the destination- the place karen was raving about.

We reached Mt Maunganui in one piece, with all our organs intact. Thank God! We headed for food before anything else.

yeap food brings us together. oops dun mind the big mouth!

We then proceeded to walk around the area after it stopped raining. Like a typical tourist, I took tons of photos before making another 3-hour ride back.

there was a line-up of many cafes catered for people like us. hur hur hur.

the mountain/hill (see right) that i wanted to climb. pity time wasn't on my side. Pity I couldn’t trek up the hilly region due to time constraints. OH WELL. Will do that next time *mental note*

note how blue the sky is. hmm this is paradise. heh... and please also note that i didn't use photoshop for any of the photos featured here... =)

just one of the many who was picking oysters. nah! not my kinda thing but interesting nonetheless. apparantly some of them pick them up and eat the oysters fresh.

The ride back was smoother even though the traffic was horrible. I managed to relax and enjoy the company as well as immerse in the wonder of Nature. The herds of cows, and sheep which were grazing happily…the green, the hills.

We met Justin, washed up before we headed to Auckland again. I was just happy to sit behind as a passenger while Justin was behind the wheel. I took a short nap before I woke up because the car was stuck in a huge jam. We ended up late to meet Joel, Justin’s friend from New Zealand. He's my first kiwi friend, believe it or not =)

We had dinner at Burgerfuel along Ponsonby. We had a HUGE (and when I say huge I mean it) burger each before we took quite a long stroll to a café in Queen’s street.

well couldn't take a proper shot of the sky city at night. ulgh i need a better camera!

Initially Karen suggested staying over at the 24-hr café but Amos offered his place so we stayed over at his place.

It was a fun-filled yet tiring day. That almost drained me from almost all of my energy.

(for more photos of Day 4, click here)