Have Car, Will Drive

A typical example of New Zealand's one-way bridges, found near the Taumarunui end of the Forgotten World Highway Well thanks to a combination solo travel exhaustion and post solo travel distraction, it has been a little while since my last post. I am back in Melbourne now, but there remain stories to be told about my adventures on the other side of the Tasman. My last post left me in Whakapapa Village in Tongariro National Park. There I spent the best part of a day walking in the park while avoiding gale-force winds at higher altitude. Leaving Whakapapa early the next morning, I set out on what would be my longest driving day of my trip. My destination was Wellington, but after reading an article in Wheels magazine last year I was very keen to drive highway 43, otherwise known as the Forgotten World Highway, which required a slight detour on the way to Wellington.

Sunset over Lake Rotorua I have a confession to make. I am starting to grow fond of my campervan. Despite my strong belief that nothing built by Toyota (4wds excepted) should ever elicit an emotional attachment, Hogan is doing his best to find a place in my heart. To be fair, Hogan is more than just a Toyota. Thanks to a comfortable, if simple, camper fit-out he has become my transient home of the last seven days. And despite his (predictable) shortcomings, he has also carried me reliably around New Zealand, serving as my ticket to travel wherever I please, doing so at my own convenience. Leaving Matakohe on Saturday morning to head through Auckland to Thames, I was blissfully unaware of the difficulties I would encounter on my journey. Thanks to Friday night's heavy rain, many roads were closed due to either flooding of landslides, and many more were blocked in one direction. At Wellsford I discovered that SH1 was under about a metre of water at Dome Valley and I would have to