Coromandel Roads (Subtitle: Motion Sickness)

The Coromandel Peninsula is very rural, and part of that rural character is its unpaved roads, potholes, and one lane bridges (just like being back in Ithaca, minus the snow).  Of the roads leading to Tuateawa, the road from Thames to Coromandel is paved, and the road through the hills across the peninsula from Coromandel to Tuateawa is unpaved and incredibly winding.

Here’s the topography of the peninsula:

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Google Maps doesn’t even show the road between Coromandel and Tuateawa:

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As we were driving the other day, I took some video out the window of our rickety old Toyota van.  Hold on to yer hats (and yer stomachs)…  we’re going for a ride.  You might want earplugs.

 

Enjoy the quail jumping out of the way?  Not feeling the motion sickness yet?  Here’s another short clip, where you can get a sense of how narrow the roads are as the hillside nearly takes out my camera.

 

As a note for my Yankee friends and family, Kiwis drive on the left side of the road.  Kiwi vehicles have the driver’s seat on the right and the passenger’s seat on the left.  I’m sitting behind the passenger seat to take these videos.