Promptly at 8:30 AM, the Trusty Car Rental agent showed up at the hotel with the rental car. After a brief transaction in the parking lot, I took possession of a Subaru station wagon. To my advantage, all four corners of the car are already scraped up. I left Auckland without incident and drove the whole way to Paihia fairly comfortably. A couple of times I started out on the wrong side of the road, but caught myself. Gas is expensive here - about $1.32/liter $US, so that is close to $6/gallon. Saw some beautiful beaches, some with sand dunes off the coast on the drive up. Stopped in a small historic town at a cafe/cheese store for a nice bowl of tomato soup for lunch. Visited a honey store and a mustard store and bought a few delicacies. Arrived in Paihia and am staying a lovely B&B, the BayStay. Had Haraka for dinner, a New Zealand fish, that was quite good. And now I am more or less caught up on the essence of this travel story.
