Holiday: Day 12 – Hello Hamilton!

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6.15am: Welcome back loyal Reader! Here for more news of our adventures on the other side of the world? I admire your stamina!! 😉👍

Day 12 – Where are we?
(Sunday, 10th November)

We’re just over a third of the way through our mega-holiday and where this morning, it’s time to say goodbye to gorgeous Paihia, and hit the road travelling south – for the town of Hamilton. This will be a LONG drive – our longest so far – totalling about 350 km (200 miles). Essentially, the first part is the exact reverse of our journey to here from Auckland last Thursday – and then we motor further south for about another hour (120km/70 miles) to our single-night sleepover in Hamilton.

TODAY’S TRIVIA: Mosquitos don’t exist in New Zealand.

Hamilton has a population of almost 180000, and in 2020 it was awarded the title of most beautiful large city in New Zealand. The town is probably most famous for its Hamilton Gardens that sees around a million visitors a year. Depending on how we’re feeling after our long road trip, we might take a look.

8.43am: We’re off! Bye-bye Paihia! 👋👋

The road of choice was the ‘NH1’ heading south and being a Sunday, roads were quiet (but not as quiet as we imagined).

Pitstop 1 in Waipu

I took the wheel for the first leg to Waipu. It was a bustling town for a Sunday, but it’s famous for something far closer to home! Scottish Highland Games! Yes, really! It hosts its own version each year.

10.16pm: We topped up with petrol – our first for this holiday – relieving us of 58.15NZD (around £27) for 21.3 litres. Over here, at the time of writing, petrol cost us 2.73NZD per litre (£1.25/litre). We then parked along the high street, enjoyed a coffee, before swapping drivers.

Pitstop 2 – BP Truckstop

12.35pm: Ann drove the next leg – Waipu to the BP Truckstop just south of Auckland. We would have stopped earlier, but where we expected the Services area to be (opposite BP’s SH1 Northbound equivalent, but on our side – Southbound) – there just weren’t any services at all. I think we assumed like so many motorways back in the UK, there is nearly always a ‘north’ and ‘south’ version.

This leg took longer than we expected and to add to the fun – in went the Sun and down came the rain! 😲. We took a longer break here and tucked into the beef rolls I’d prepared this morning, all washed down with Ann’s thermos of coffee!

Next Stop – Hamilton

12.57pm: We swapped driving for the final time today as we continued south, in the direction of our bed for the night.

1.59pm: We arrived just before 2pm. The weather hadn’t improved, and so we abandoned our idea of dropping into Hamilton Gardens for a look around. Maybe next time?? 🤔

Hello Hamilton!

Arriving into Hamilton via the SH1 brought us in via the industrial side of the town. It didn’t present the most attractive side of this award-winning part of New Zealand. Still, there’s a great choice of tyre-repair outlets and exhaust shops if we need them as well as cement mixers and combine harvesters too! That’s probably a little unfair as a little more research revealed that Hamilton also boasts agriculture, biotechnology, light innovation, light aviation, transport logistics, science research, education and healthcare! 👍👍

Sleepover

2.05pm: Phew! We made it!!! 😖😖. Checking-in to the Argent Motor Lodge was a breeze and we were soon unpacking for our single-night stay. Being ‘just’ a ‘Motor Lodge’ made us think that things might be somewhat basic – not a chance! Room 15a was spacious, spotlessly clean – and it looked very modern too! 👍😆. And at 199NZD per night (£99), amazing value! 👍👍. Ann sure knows where to find the deals! 😍😍

New Zealand – A Drivers’ Paradise?

Driving in New Zealand – Paihia to Hamilton

Road Name: SH1 Southbound
Condition: Very smooth in most parts. A bit lumpy on some of the single-carriageway sections. We didn’t experience a single pothole across the whole journey, but some of the tarmac was a bit rough and noisy in places
Lanes: Sometimes single, sometimes dual (with quite a few ‘passing lanes’), occasionally four lanes
Terrain: Long stretches of very straight sections but with VERY hilly parts both up and down
Scenery: Forests, Trees, Cows, Sheep, Occasional Cafés and Liquor Stores plus Industrial buildings
Filling Stations: Plenty!
Roadworks: Occasional but significant stretches
Driver Courtesy: Everyone seemed to obey the speed limit but they do have a tendency to NOT signal when leaving major roads
Speed Limits: 40kph all the way up to the National Speed Limit (110kph)
Police/Speed cameras: TWO police cars/FOUR speed cameras plus a mobile camera (that Google Maps alerted us to)
Total distance today: 345 kilometres

Paradise? Yes, pretty much! So far, the roads have been a pleasure to drive on – we’ve yet to see a pothole! The only thing that slowed us down today was roadworks (which at the moment – just our luck – seemed to be quite lengthy in places). We covered a lot of distance today and by the time we arrived at our destination, we were both quite tired – it is amazing how much concentration is needed when experiencing foreign road networks! Probably the only thing that we miss out here is the constant reminders of the speed limits. Physical signage of these is a bit sparse and we couldn’t get any of the phone tech to display the limits as we moved between road types. Generally, we’ve found the typical Kiwi driver drives a lot slower than we do, back in England – but that’s maybe a good thing!

TODAY’S TRIVIA: The famous Pavlova is a dessert that originated in New Zealand

Tomorrow, we head for Highway 5 and head for Rotorua, almost 70 miles away. We’ll end the day with a sleepover at the Ashbrook Motel near Lake Taupõ. Nighty-night! – see you Monday!! 💤💤