Under the Gorge Walk: Photos 21 to 29

It's been a good few weeks since we set out for a long walk so I was determined to get out of the city this weekend and see some more of NZ's fine countryside. I've been hankering to visit the Karangahake Gorge ever since hearing about it from Liz last year. So with DOC (Department of Conservation) leaflet in hand and Mayuko, our Japanese friend, along for the ride, we headed eastwards, loosely in the direction of Tauranga.

We travelled along State Highway 2 which is technically a motorway but by UK standards would barely qualify as an 'A' road. In fact it was pretty much all single carriageway and I swear we passed more cows than we did cars along the way! Cresting a steep hillside at once point, we were surprised to find ourselves heading towards vast flat, grassy plains with the moutains of the Coromandel Peninsular so distant they were hard to distinguish from clouds on the horizon. It was very picturesque.

Just before arriving at the gorge, we passed through a town called Paeroa where the popular fizzy drink L&P was invented. If you've never heard of it before it's because it is, according to

Full Text Entry: Under the Gorge Walk