The words "road trip" can mean a variety things around the world and with different people. A road trip in the States is completely different from a road trip in the UK or Europe. Likewise one that you do with friends is different from family. You might be with people that do not like to make unscheduled stops, you may never run out of gas, you may get stranded in a nowhere town, you may meet some interesting locals, eat some good pies, see some beautiful churches or historical sites. I have not been on too many roadtrips and most of them were with my family for college trips or for Thanksgiving journies in the States and while they were wonderful, they really cannot prepare someone for a roadtrip into the Northland of New Zealand.

Planning the trip was time consuming and I focused on each stop we had to make (where we had accomidation) but once I got on the road, turned up the music, rolled down the window and breathed in the country fresh air it occured to us all (me, Bethany, and later Vanessa) that it really is true what they say: "it is not the destination, but the journey". It is no wonder that people tell you to rent a car when exploring this part of New Zealand because there are so many little stops along the way that make it amazing. As soon as we got out of Auckland (onto highway 1, pretty much the only highway in New Zealand) it took about 20 minutes to realize we were surrounded by deap rolling green hills and towering mountains that drift into the background in every direction. The first stop that we made was at a hostel in Whangerei where there are some of the most "photographable" waterfalls in the world. I do not know about photographing them, becuase it is hard to relaly capture what it is like to stand in front of crystal blue water and watch gallons and gallons of it tumble off of a ridge (don't worry, I didn't jump off this one). The rocks around it are covered in surreally green moss from the mists that constantly keep them moist. How can a place like that really exist? I kept wondering. The trail that wove around the forest surrounding the falls were equally inspiring. Trees so huge you cant even imagine how old they must be, or what they have seen in their life time, and bird songs you have NEVER even thought were real. A boardwalk went through the canopy of the forest, letting us see the unbelievable might of the entire landscape and trees.

After those walks we made our way to the Bay of Islands to wander around Russell, Kerikeri, and other little towns. Russell, accessable only by ferry, is one of the most amazing towns so far. It is tiny and secluded but it has cute cafes with good food and even though it was raining, it was beautiful. One of the main roads look out over the bay that Russell sits by and Bethany and I watched sailboats lazily tack back and forth sipping tea at Sally's cafe.

After coming back to the main part of our trip we started on the 1 hour drive to the little area of Opononi on the westcoast. The drive was in short, unbelievable. Every turn that we (carfully) turned revealed a new breathtaking view of hills and sheep and little farms with horses and chickens. We stopped along the way to do some walks and see some more forests and essentially see more of the beautiful landscape. We finally made it to a little farm lodge outside of Opononi owned by a sweet couple up on a hill. It was in the middle of NO WHERE, secluded and wonderful. A storm came in just as we arrived and we sat in the little farmhouse lodging drinking tea and reading. A little black cat Tui seemed to be the ONLY cat in the world that actually likes me and every time I sat down she would climb into my lap. How nice. When we woke th next morning we found the view in all directions to be....well there really is no way to describe it. Up on litterally Mountain Road, we could see everything. The mountains, the farms, the trees, the rolling hills that went on for miles and miles, that told us there there really was nothing more than the small town of Opononi around us. It is humbling to stand in the middle of nowhere and realize that even though you are in a small country, it is still very big.

We then reluctantly went to Paihia where we picked up Vanessa who had an engagement the night before so had to skip the first few days. We went on a walk through the mangrove forests and around the historical Waitangi Treaty grounds of the Maori; also had some great fish and chips, and walked along the beach. Then we started back south to Dargaville....that is where the real fun started. About 20 minutes from Dargaville, through the incredibly twisty and curvy mountain roads we hit a little pothole. Well, not so much a little pothole, so much as a GIANT one, that were it light out at the time I am sure we would have seen. That being said, and me being me.....I sort of hit it. and after a few minutes of driving realized that all was not right with Malachy (yes we named our car, the cutest little cotton candy blue Sirion that ever was). And sure enough as we pulled over in Middleofnowhere, New Zealand the back left tire was a tad bit flat....

Damn. Well, it has been a couple years since drivers ed for me, but thankfully my family has a really excellet track record with flat tires and I knew the basic idea of it. Although as soon as I realized it was flat I started to laugh. I insured the ENTIRE care to the HIGHEST level....except of course the windows and....the tires. So, extra expense, suprise! So we started to change the tire, jack up the car...etc. had some people drive right by us and just when I started to think that chivlry really is dead a pickup truck slowed down and two friendly Kiwis asked us "Whats going on?". Vanessa replied "we have a flat tire", to which the driver said "Yeah no problem, we can fix that" and proceeded to pull over and hop out wearing shorts and flip flops.

It being a rental car there were little twisty ties on the hubcaps, I assume to keep them from falling off, a problem we were going to cross when we got to the part where we take off the tire. I pointed it out to the guys (who again can only be described as 100% men) and said "I dont know what to do about that", he squinted at it and then just tore off the hubcap full intact, twisty tie desimated, as if it were nothing. They finished jacking up the car, change the the tire to the spare all in about 5 minutes. If it were an olympic sport, these guys would get gold. They assured us we were on the way to Dargaville and we thanked them A LOT and then were on our merry little way. Only to realize when we got to Dargaville that Bethany had left her phone on the top of the car...whoops. So the next morning, after shelling out 100 bucks to get a new tire we went in search of her cell phone, only to realize that we could not for the life of us locate the area we were in last night. This has lead me to beleive that it was in fact a mythical place, and can only be found by those who are not searching for it.

ANYWAY, after some more amazing driving and sites we turned off into a beach that was marked on the road, thinking that it might be a good little place to see. Little did we know that it was the most beautiful beach in the world (at least I think so). The wind blew the water high up onto the beach makingit almost like a mirror as it reflectedthe clouds and the rocky hills around it. The waves were amazing and were it warmer, I would have swam, but alas it was not. I will make it back there some day to see that amazing beach again.

After a quick stop in Helensville (yeah thats right) to get a coffee and see the town we made it back to Auckland to return our faithful car and organize our stuff before we all departed to different areas of the South Pacific for the rest of the break.

My Northland road trip was made amazing by the little pie shops and cafes that we stopped at, the little towns we drove through, the fact that the highway was one lane in each direction and that there were trackters on it, that I felt I was in a car commerical zooming around the curvy roads in a beautiful country, the little nature walks that we stopped at on whims and the middle of nowhere lodges that accomodated us as we drove around to see New Zealand outside of the city, and outside of the movies and photos. I really cannot tell you all how the beaches looked, or how the air smelled, or what it was like to drive up a road that was swallowed up by green hills and baby lambs, you just have to go out there and discover it your self. And let me know when you do....I'll tag along again. :)