Mount Eden address to Tauranga private car — Anja's holiday

The rain had finally stopped by mid-morning on Friday. April is usually a pretty good month to be driving – the summer crowds are thinning out a bit, but the days are still long enough to make for easy driving. I pulled up to the Mount Eden address, a neat villa with roses climbing the porch. My passenger, Anja S., was already waiting by the gate, a compact suitcase and a small backpack beside her. She had a friendly, open face, and a determined set to her jaw that suggested she wasn’t going to miss a single thing on this trip.

She’d flown into Auckland a couple of days before and was heading down to Tauranga for a week of exploring. She mentioned she’d done the big cities and now wanted a bit of the coast, a bit of the ‘real’ New Zealand. I told her Tauranga was a good choice, especially as she was arriving just before Easter, which meant the beaches would be buzzing but not yet overwhelmingly busy. We loaded her bags into the boot, and I set the GPS for the Southern Motorway. The motorway was already building up with weekend traffic heading south and east – a steady stream of cars and SUVs, many with kayaks or surfboards strapped to the roof. It’s always the same on a Friday morning out of Auckland.

We passed Pokeno and the familiar exit for the Coromandel, heading instead towards the SH29 turnoff. The landscape started to open up, rolling farmland giving way to steeper hills as we approached the Kaimai Range. Anja was looking out the window, taking it all in. She’d lived in Sydney for a few years before Germany, she told me, and this reminded her a little of parts of the Blue Mountains, but with an unmistakable greenness that was uniquely New Zealand. We chatted quietly about her plans – a walk up Mauao (Mount Maunganui), a visit to the local art gallery, maybe a day trip to Waihi. She was eager to try some local seafood. I mentioned a good fish and chip shop I knew not far from the ferry terminal in Tauranga, the one with the really fresh snapper.

As we descended into the Tauranga basin, the clouds broke a little, and patches of blue sky appeared. The air felt warmer, closer. She pointed out a particularly vibrant pohutukawa tree, even though it wasn't flowering season. “I saw a picture of them in bloom,” she said, her eyes bright. “They look like jewels against the coast.” I agreed, picturing the crimson flowers that would grace the coastline in a few months’ time. She was travelling solo, having decided at the last minute to extend her trip. It was a brave thing to do, coming all this way on her own, but she seemed completely at ease with it.

We drove past the harbour, the water glinting in the weak sunlight, and headed towards her accommodation near the base of the Mount. There was a relaxed vibe to the city, a sense of people enjoying the seaside lifestyle. She paid, thanked me for the smooth and comfortable ride, and promised to look up that fish and chip shop. Watching her walk up the path to her hotel, a determined smile on her face, I felt a quiet satisfaction. Another passenger safely delivered, another corner of Aotearoa ready to be explored. I turned the car around, the kilometres ahead of me winding back towards Auckland, and pondered the simple pleasure of helping people discover new places.