The end of the road trip: Tauranga and back to Auckland

After almost two weeks on the road it was time for us to start heading back to Auckland. We took a slightly different road to the one we used on our way down. We followed the dessert road (where nothing much grows and the NZ army uses it as a training ground!) to the other side of Lake Taupo, where we had lunch, and in the early afternoon we arrived in Tauranga where we were going to spend the night. Tauranga is situated on the Pacific coast and is famous for its beaches and its waves which attract surfers from all over New Zealand. In the evening we caught up with Dylan, an old friend of Blair’s, who showed us around the town and was kind enough to see a million of our photos on Blair’s laptop without even complaining!

On Friday morning we drove the final 200km to Auckland. After a brief moment of bemoaning the end of our wonderful road trip we set off for Albert Park, a beautiful park in the middle of Auckland, which was full of stalls and a stage in preparation to celebrate the Chinese New Year.