The idiosyncrasies of a State Highway, north to the lighthouse
It was supposed to be a trip to see the lighthouse at Cape Rēinga, but driving north the bends became more frequent and more severe. State Highway 1 – the road which connects the Far North to the Deep South, our main-trunk line – began to delight and distract me.
Living in the Far North we like to think of ourselves as at the top of the country – we name things with that in mind – Top Print, Top Health, Top Vets, Top Energy. But the truth is we are 100km short of the top. It’s a good long drive to Te Rerenga Wairua (Cape Rēinga) and I hadn’t been there for a long time. There was a promise of sunshine in a grey week so I took to State Highway 1 and headed north, north to the lighthouse, north to Spirit’s Bay, north to an area of special significance and importance to Māori.
No doubt State Highway 1 behaves like a major road as it traverses Auckland. It’s no autobahn, and just a country cousin to the mighty M1 in England, but nevertheless it is a proper motorway with speeding cars, lots of lanes, its own special rules and its own TV show. A thick yellow
