Crowne Plaza Auckland to Kawhia private car — Wei's conference trip

The air felt thick and warm even that early in the morning, a real taste of December in Auckland. I pulled up to the Crowne Plaza, the lobby doors sliding open to reveal a smartly dressed man with a briefcase. He looked like he owned the place, or at least had a very important meeting there. He introduced himself as Wei L., and mentioned he was heading out to Kawhia. Kawhia. That's a bit off the beaten track for most folks, a good few hours swing southwest from the city. "Conference," he’d said, with a slight nod. I gathered it was a relatively small, specialist one, not the big corporate affairs that sometimes fill the rental cars coming out of the airport.

We cleared the city streets, the Expressway a familiar ribbon of grey under the growing sun. Wei was quiet initially, just watching the suburbs blur into farmland. I could see the Waikato landscape unfolding – the rolling green hills, the long stretches of highway cutting through dairy country. It’s a different pace out here, a slow unfurling compared to the city’s rush. We passed through Pokeno, the smell of fresh bacon from the processing plant faintly on the breeze, then continued south towards Hamilton. Wei eventually commented on the sheer amount of green, how different it was from Singapore's urban intensity. He’d been here for a few days already, attending seminars and workshops in the city.

As we headed further south and west, taking State Highway 39 towards Pirongia and then onto the more winding roads towards the coast, the landscape started to change again, becoming more rural, more exposed. Sheep dotted the steeper hillsides, and the occasional farmhouse stood silhouetted against the horizon. We stopped at a small service station near Pirongia, the kind of place that sells fishing lures next to the lollies. I grabbed a Flat White and Wei a bottle of water. He mentioned he’d been asked to present some findings on sustainable urban development. It was a topic close to home, given his work back in Singapore, but he seemed keen to understand how these principles were being applied, or even thought about, in places like New Zealand, particularly in smaller, more isolated communities.

He spoke about the complexities of city planning, the constant balancing act between growth and preservation. He wasn't lecturing, just sharing thoughts, observations from his world that I found genuinely interesting. He seemed to be someone who thought deeply about the impact of human presence on the environment. He pointed out a patch of native bush clinging to a hillside, asking me if it was managed or let run wild. I admitted I wasn't sure of the specifics, but it looked pretty untamed.

The final stretch into Kawhia was through more undulating countryside, the air smelling cleaner, saltier now. The town itself is small, unassuming, nestled by the water. A handful of houses, a general store, a pub. It felt like stepping back in time a little. Wei thanked me, his briefcase still looking remarkably pristine. He said he was looking forward to the evening session of his conference, to hear from people with a different perspective. I left him at a modest guesthouse by the harbour, the sun beginning its descent, casting long shadows across the water. It was a quiet drive back towards Auckland, the thoughts of urban planning and distant green landscapes lingering in my mind. A trip to Kawhia always feels like you've ventured to the edge of things, a peaceful corner of the North Island that you don't often get to see.