Our journey South of the North Island 

Author: George Maoate

Thursday 12th – A distant travel to Wellington

On our way down, we saw and  experienced new things like “Lake Taupo” which was very huge and “Mt. Ruapehu” which had a bit of snow at the tip of the mountain. We also saw a few army trucks, soldiers in training and passed the Army Museum at Waiouru. However, I know for sure that we all won’t forget about “Desert Road” which will always live up to its name.  There were a few cars passing us and also a number of trucks, although, seeing the absence of citizens and shops got me frightened because I knew that if we broke down on the bus, there won’t be any help around us.

Tere Maoate

Thursday 13th – Leaving Auckland

As we drove out of Auckland thankful that there was no traffic on the road, the climate changed very quickly when we came down the Bombay hill to go through the Waikato Expressway. It was a very long drive but serene on the roads with no cars and noisy trucks passing by. It was like being alone all by ourselves and nobody else to drive behind or watch go pass. I was a bit scared but on the optimistic side at least we had the highway all to ourselves.

My Uncle’s 50th Birthday in Wellington- May 14th 2011

Day1: Packing/Preparing - Wednesday 11th May 2011

By: Grace  Maoate

Day 1 – Thursday 12th

My family and I left home at 4:10 a.m. While dad drove, a few of us kids slept and the others  stayed awake. We made lots of toilet-stops on the way down and it was my dad who went to toilet most of the time.

After what seemed a long-time, dad and mum considered of two alternatives. One was to have breakfast or the other option was continue traveling. They chose the first option – to have a feed in Tokoroa. We all had chicken sandwiches except for Abera and George. While we ate, a police woman showed her police Shrek to us all. All the little kids were smiling and waving to it considering that it was real.