the route

Friday, March 28

Tauranga to Whangamata. The area around Tauranga turned out to be fruit and veggie country (Bay of Plenty perhaps....) The road passed through a constant stream of orchards. We kept seeing these weird little fuzzy green and brown things called kiwi fruit. About 10km before Waihi Beach (second photo), we turned off toward the coast and ended up catching lunch -- our usual staple of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and our newfound kiwi addiction, Burger Rings (imagine BBQ flavored Cheetos) -- on the beach watching the waves roll in. From Waihi, we headed up Highway 25 through beautiful rolling countryside, eventually rocketing down to the coast along the Bay of Plenty and into Whangamata along the Coromandel peninsula.
Now a frivolous digression -- a quick lesson in New Zealandese. "How's it going?" becomes "how ya going?" "Cheers" stands for anything from "thank you" to "you're welcome." And then there is "ta" which is a handy "thank you" replacement. I'm sure there are a few more examples, but I'm clearly not catching them -- the kiwi accent can be thicker than cold peanut butter on Wonderbread.

See the map for this day

	Friday, March 28
	Tauranga to Whangamata. The area around Tauranga turned out to be fruit and veggie country (Bay of Plenty perhaps....) The road passed through a constant stream of orchards. We kept seeing these weird little fuzzy green and brown things called kiwi fruit. About 10km before Waihi Beach (second photo), we turned off toward the coast and ended up catching lunch -- our usual staple of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and our newfound kiwi addiction, Burger Rings (imagine BBQ flavored Cheetos) -- on the beach watching the waves roll in. From Waihi, we headed up Highway 25 through beautiful rolling countryside, eventually rocketing down to the coast along the Bay of Plenty and into Whangamata along the Coromandel peninsula. Now a frivolous digression -- a quick lesson in New Zealandese. "How's it going?" becomes "how ya going?" "Cheers" stands for anything from "thank you" to "you're welcome." And then there is "ta" which is a handy "thank you" replacement. I'm sure there are a few more examples, but I'm clearly not catching them -- the kiwi accent can be thicker than cold peanut butter on Wonderbread.