Today we said goodbye to Auckland and picked up our rental to drive to Paihia in the north. The beautiful Bay Of Islands.
We were collected at the hotel by Europecar and taken to sign our rental agreement and pick up our vehicle.
The car was nice and practically brand new with only about 4,000 kilometers on it. Built in sat nav and all the amenities.
We loaded up and pulled out and before we had gotten too far I noticed the oil light was on. We drove back to the rental place and the manager suggested topping off the oil and I suggested that driving off into the remote wilds in a car that had low oil combined with low mileage didn’t fill me with confidence so they swapped cars for us. It was the least they could do.
The new car was not as new, but was a Mitsubishi Outlander with very low mileage.
I like this vehicle much more that the previous one so I am quite happy now.
We packed up the replacement and drove off.
The weather was good and we made good time on our 140 mile journey to Paihia. After clearing the city we pulled off at a service station to get some road snacks and so I could start wiring the car to charge our various devices like iPhones, iPads, the GoPro and my spare camera batteries.
The drive was fantastic and the scenery was spectacular. Sadly, there was not an abundance of places to pull of and photograph the views. I especially enjoyed the windy mountain roads that climbed and dove through the mountains. Cynthia, on the other hand, was not so thrilled. Especially after seeing the warning signs.
Before arriving in Paihia we stopped to view and photograph the Whangarei Falls.
After that we drove on to Paihia and checked into our hotel. Once that was done we went exploring and found some dinner.
I have to say, Paihia is a beautiful town and we are happy to be here. Tomorrow we explore the area in greater detail.
