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Published: October 31st 2013
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The Best Button Of All
GPS's have made a remarkable difference to self guided touring.... both for the worse and for the better.
Picking up my campervan this morning, and with little to no idea of where I was going to end up but knowing that I was wanting to head north, I plugged in the name of Orewa into the GPS. This little seaside town to the north of Auckland allowed me to negotiate traffic and motorways safely to the other side of the Auckland Bridge and then depart the motorway as soon as possible.
Her's where GPS's are bad.... they take the adventure out of trying to drive, hold an unfolded map, and instinctively know which lane you need to be in. Here's where they're brilliant....
Once in Orewa and the nerves of driving a (nearly) 2 tonne vehicle through traffic had settled, I had the time to decide how far I was driving for the day and where I was to stop. With my mind made up on a DOC (Dept. of Conservation) campsite for my destination, I plugged it into the GPS.
Wooooohoooooo!!!!
The GPS
is loaded with all the information to get me there.
Damn!!!!
This route includes a toll road.
Wooooooooohoooooooooooo!!!!
A little button that says "Use Alternate Route".
Now I must warn that alternate routes are sometimes not for the faint at heart. Taking you through winding roads (where you may travel a total of about 7km in an hour if it was a straight line), along the edge of cliffs, directly through the heart of a forest, onto unsealed roads, and a miriad of single lane bridges (New Zealanders seem to love these as there's barely any bridges that allow two way traffic).
On through Whangarei and on to a 30km side road to the campsite. 30km?? 30 mins at the worst right?? 2 hours later and approaching 5pm I arrive..... and I wouldn't have had it any other way!! If anyone comes to New Zealand, you must drive Russell Rd!!!! The entire way, all I could think was "I wish I had my motorbike!" as it's made to measure. I don't think the road planners could draw a straight line with a ruler.
First impressions of
a DOC campsite? Brilliant!
For NZ$12 a night I had Puriri Bay lapping its tranquil waves a mere 10m from my campervan. Only another 5 vehicles in the whole place of which 4 were travellers like myself and 1 was a local that had extended his long weekend (Monday being Labor Day).
The morning dawned bright and clear and I was off again, up and down the winding, unsealed path of Russell Rd again, constantly heading north.
Russell, the township, is an historical site where the Europeans and the Maori signed a treaty over the lands, and sits on the Bay of Islands. 10:30am and I begin to see wineries in the area and before you know it, tasting are had and bottles are bought. It's Midday somewhere right??
Around the bay and the GPS comes into it's own again. With time up my sleeve, I punch in nearby points of interest, and come up with a couple of waterfalls in the area. Haruru Falls and Rainbow Falls gave me some much needed driving relief (one of the only bad things about being on your own is the fact you have to do all
the driving yourself) and an opportunity to ponder the night's destination again.
Through Kaitaia, the Gateway to the Far North, and a quick stop to use the free WiFi in the public library to update the Auckland blogs (I think I will constantly be on the search for public libraries), then continuing on to Rarawa Campsite. Although a little further to the crashing waves, another lovely DOC site and only NZ$6 a night due to it being a standard site instead of a scenic site.
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Melinda Hoffmann
non-member comment
Great photos Mark and excellent reading, your should be a writer, Look forward to the next update Regards Mel