The Grand Pacific Drive and the North Island

Our flight was at 6:45pm in the evening and being in Kiama we were around a 2h30m drive from Sydney (along the supposedly scenic route of the Grand Pacific Drive). We got going on the road at around 11am and headed north along the coastal road. This time the drive was a lot more interesting (you may remember me complaining a couple of days ago about not actually seeing the sea on the GPD). We drove past some nice beaches and along a new swanky road/bridge (which hugs the coastline for a few miles over the water crashing into the cliffs below - very cool).

The final part of the drive went through the ‘Royal National Park’ - the oldest national park in Australia. It is primarily made up of rainforest and has miles of trails for walkers to explore. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t the best for us and Andrea had a second run to do so we drove on through. We did get a few photos hanging out the side of the car though - it was parked up so don‘t worry ;).


Royal National Park

In the evening our flight went without hitch and we were picked up at Auckland Airport, on the North Island, by Steve Willis (KiwiRun organiser and brother of Nick Willis - silver medallist at Beijing Olympics 1500m) and Craig the trip physical therapist. It was late when we arrived at the hostel (around 2am) so we headed straight to bed. A day of fun awaits us tomorrow…