En route toward the Coromandel Peninsula

Long drives planned for today, with two breaks at Refining NZ's visitor centre and Wairoa Reservoir in the Hunua Ranges Regional Park.

The Refining NZ stop was surprisingly interesting, with two informative videos about the origins of oil deposits and their first discoveries, as well as the history and operations of the refinery itself. Crude from the Gulf is refined into a whole slew of products, including kerosene (which we now know is jet fuel) and bitumen for paving roads. The process is actually rather efficient, with only a tiny fractional percentage of the initial crude going to waste.

The Hunua Ranges region is definitely on our list for next time. We were only able to step a few kilometres into the massive park - in which a number of fine walking tracks (including one with a suspension bridge that we would have liked to get to, but were not able to make in the end) have been prepared for visitors. The Wairoa Reservoir is probably one of the more beautiful industrial installations that we've encountered - and the sheep hanging out on the back side seem to agree.Read more