The North Island has a lot of coast, it being an island! Some of the most beautiful stretches, however, are to be found on the north-side, the so-called Bay of Plenty. This is where we spent a few days, however not really to soak in the sun, but to explore the inlands.
Tauranga and Waihi were the two ports of call, the former being a sort of Blackpool or Zandvoort of New Zealand and the latter a gold-mining village. Not surprisingly, of the two the latter was very interesting, with the opportunity to have a look at a still 'working' goldmine (apparently they dig about 1 mln dollars worth of gold every week out of something that to us looked like a big hole) and a walk through a former goldfield.
In the late 1800's and early 1900's the area around Waihi was hit by goldfever, which led to the quick construction of several villages along the river that disects the mountains surrounding the village. What became apparent to us, though, was that the destruction of these villages must have occured even faster, as the walking route we followed didn't provide much evidence of previous inhabitation, even though the signs showed pictures of bustling villages that supposedly where there less than 100 years ago. Having said that, the walk was very pleasant and interesting, going partly through some old mine-tunnels and a 1 kilometer long unlit train-tunnel used for transporting people and food the the villages. It is funny how nice day-light is after a stretch in such a tunnel!
From Waihi we departed for Auckland, our last port of call in New Zealand. Not only for us the end of an adventure, also for our little van, that was creaking louder with every mile ....
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