Coromandel Peninsula

Crystal, this one's for you.  We stopped along the way to stretch our legs and get something to eat, and saw this motor home and I just had to take a photo of it!  :)

We were all a bit car sick from the roads we were driving on.  So, we had to get out of the car for a while.  We finished up better though.  We all made it without puking.  :)

It was worth it!  This is the view from the house we stayed in.  

These photos are not actually in order of what we did on our trip, but you'll see the rest later.  On our way home we stopped and rode this little train and it was actually way cooler than I thought it would be.  This man built a short track of train to bring his pottery supplies down a hill, and got a little carried away from there.  Now it's a popular tourist destination.  There are quite a few potters who work there and different types of kilns which I found very interesting.  They had also planted Kauri trees, which are native to New Zealand.  They were all logged out of this area a long time ago, but people are slowly replanting them.  They take a very long time to grow but are beautiful!

This is the view from the top of the train ride and if you look past that dark island there, you can see Auckland.  Ok, not really, but that's where it is.  You can actually take a ferry ride that's about 2 hours to get to the Coromandel from Auckland.  After all the crazy roads, I think I might prefer that method of transportation.  

Just a random shot of Sophia's first driving lesson.  She likes using her feet for everything!  (Don't worry, we weren't moving like Britney.)