January 19th - Detour

On Highway 2 between Coromandel and Rotorua there is a magnificent little town whose name elicits a warm fuzzy feeling deep in my core. At fifteen kilometers away I noticed the first road sign, and thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. Could such a town exist? Have my prayers been answered? At ten kilometers out I knew that, should the unexpected happen, I would die a happy man...

This photo above is one of Dan's 100 shots he took as his head was hanging out of the side of the car like a dog. With excitement he spat, "ANOTHER SIGN!!"

Dan's poor attempt at photographing every sign as we were getting near TE PUKE was in fact really poor (despite the fact I slowed down significantly with angry drivers behind me) and his photos were all very blurry from too much excitement.

But not so blurry that you can't still enjoy them.

And it kept getting better and better from there.

Anna stopped in the middle of the highway and held up traffic for this beautiful snapshot. Even though they were laying on the horn, I'm sure the other drivers understood.

But, sadly, all good things must come to an end. We will miss you Te Puke.

After our awesome road trip I discovered that my work colleague's mother is from Te Puke.

But, unlike how Dan and I were screaming it "To Puke!" - as in "to vomit!", its proper pronunciation is "Teh Pookeh".

Come on, say it with me. Teh Pookeh