The 309 Road
day 4
This video is short but fast paced. We drove quite a bit that day so I took a few time-lapses. I hope you don’t get too queazy.
Day 4 of our trip around the North Island of New Zealand, took us from Warkworth to Cooks Beach on the east side of The Coromandel. With, of course, a quick stop back at the camper-van hire place in Auckland. We were having two or three problems with our camper-van.
On the last video, we ended the day at the Sheepworld Caravan & Camping Park in Warkworth. I didn’t get the chance to wander around the place the night before so I thought I’d do that this morning. Apart from the common lounge you would have seen on the last video, there was also a large dining and kitchen area as well. Outdoors and country style looking. Rustic and beautiful. I found the Crash Start stranded out the back. Unusual place to have a boat. I saw red sheep. Yes, red sheep. And I don’t mean a red spot on their bottoms but the whole sheep painted red. And I almost had my tripod eaten by Cow50. The weird and wonderful Sheepworld.
Anyway, it was time to head to Auckland to solve our camper-van problems. From the three problems we had, one was legitimate (heater problem), one was our misunderstanding (can’t use power socket without being plugged to a powered-site) and one was our misuse (not plugging the powered-site cable properly). Well, didn’t we feel stupid for a moment there.
Onwards with the trip. We made our way to Preece Point and I must say, the scenic road of the east coast of The Coromandel is just magnificent. It’s so beautiful that we all forgot to record it. Darn it! From Preece Point we turn onto the very winding The 309 Road to cross over the mountains to Cooks Beach. Many view points along this road. We stopped at one that was at the entrance to the Ohana Farms. A while later, we stumbled upon Stuart & the Pigs. Well, just the pigs. They were crossing the road to head over to their… car yard?! Then we stopped at a place we all wanted to visit, the Waiau Waterfalls. Small falls but with the waterhole at it’s base and the surrounding forest, it really is worth a visit. We didn’t stop again until we reach Cooks Beach where we stayed the night. A free campsite on the south end of the beach behind the Purangi Regional Reserve. I think it’s along the outlet of the Oyster River but don’t quote me on that.
That’s it for day 4 my friends. I hope you come back for day 5 where we visit a cathedral and a gorge. Goodnight.
p.s. Once again, a huge thank you to Alain for his clips and photos.
