My ambidriving experience started with a rotary. Deeply ingrained thoughts that veering left would cause a head-on collision made things a bit nerve wracking at first. But I soon got the hang of it and we were off through the most Shire-like of countryside. We stayed with Molly’s friends Ron and Greg and were treated to beautiful views of the bay, a delicious home-cooked meal and even travel advice. Thank you for being such great hosts.

We spent the next day exploring the Coromandel, a place of diverse landscapes and amazing scenery. There were semi-deserted beaches, pastures of rolling green hills and thick rain forests. All withing an hours drive. Unfortunately, our trusty Nissan Sunny doesn’t partake in radio of the FM variety and the AM stations here are somewhat lacking in quality and quantity. So we’ve been listening to Maori hip-hop, Japanese news broadcasts and inventing a new New Zealand national anthem.

On our second day on the Coromandel, we woke up early to hug a rather large tree, then proceeded to Cathedral Cove. The beach was perfect if you were able to ignore the strange man in speedos frolicing in the waves. We’ve noticed that pants and shoes are not a requirement in NZ, even in the city. This is a very interesting place indeed.