First thing in the mornig we rode to Holeshot's, after we finally found it. The german guy in the service checked the carburetors, tightened left mirror, and the passenger right footpeg. He also set the clock in time, since you needed to be small-handed, and know what to do to get it adjusted. The service guy was very co-operative, fast and sure.

In Holeshot's we also met Wolfgang from Leichlingen, Germany. He had also some problems with his BMW R 80 GS. He rented it from another company, but they had their service in Holeshot's. Wolfgang's bike should have been 50 000 km ridden, but there were 72 000 km in the clock. Wolfgang suspected it might even be 172 000 km ridden. You never know.

I had met Wolfgang also in nzbikers mailing list. He should have taken part to a guided tour of 18 days, but all other participants, six Americans, had cancelled their tours one after one, so Wolfgang was alone, and no more guided tour was to be held. He was very disappointed, and after he heard his bike-only price, he felt like ripped-off. We tried to persuade him to go with us, but he had already reserved a cruise in Paihia, and he was heading to the Northland where we just came from. Also he had more holiday than us, so designing a route, suitable for all of us, would have been impossible.

From Auckland we headed towards mountaneous Coromandel peninsula. We rode through the mountains from west to east. What a roller-coaster run! We crossed many one-lane bridges in the roads we used. These bridges have traffic signs both ends of the bridge stating, who yields and who goes, if there's traffic from both directions. You however became numb to these signs, since the traffic was so minor. Sometimes when you saw someone coming after passing that sign, you had to think hard was it "yield" or "go" sign. Luckily there were (on paved roads) a stopping line in the yield end, so you could make conclusions according to it. Before Kopu, in Coromandel, we saw an one-lane bridge so long, that it had three passing bays, and traffic lights.

After Katikati we stopped for a cup of coffee to a combined restaurant and antique shop called The Forta Leza. We were the only customers, and the funny old man running the place was very unwilling to serve us any coffee. He had had some German customers that walked away without paying after tasting his coffee. He thought we were German too. After we told him, that we're Finnish, he made some coffee for us. Yes, it was a little weak indeed, but still it was better than average coffee you get in Japan where we lived at the moment.

After the antique restaurant we stopped two days before the Crhristmas in a place called Bethlehem to read our map. We went on to Tauranga, where from we headed south towards Rotorua. The road was a hairline in the map, but easy to find. The road was sand on a hard surface, and very twisty. In one crossing I felt the front tire slipping from underneath, but I managed to straighten the bike back up. The opaquity of the forest kept us going slow, and there also were car tracks that had slid out of the road several times. I was afraid this loonie would come back and against us in some curve. Finally after few succesful guesses in junctions we found the other end of the road. There was a sign pointing where we just came from. It said "Tauranga straight road". We were somewhat amused.

We reached Rotorua in twilight. It's part of the most volcanic area in NZ. This is a tourist attraction city surrounded by sulphuric vapours, and a smell of rotten egg. First we went to pharmacy to get something for my sunburnt nose. I used a hood under the helmet, and pilot-type sunglasses, but my nose was uncovered, and the ruthless NZ sun burnt it through the visor. We also bought some total block sunscreen for the road.

We bought some snack from a service station, and visited the Polynesian Spa. The 40 degree water was very relaxing. But unfortunately Elina let her long hair to touch the water. Even after several washes you could still smell the sulphur from her hair. We didn't sleep well in the Backpackers' lodge, since there was a restaurant next to the lodge, and the people were arguing of the drivers, and who gives a lift to whom, just behind our windows in the very same parking lot where our bike was. We hoped they'd just keep on kicking only their own vehicles.