A couple of
kilometres from the summit of the Bombay
Hills down the south side, you approach a
left-hand turn-off which leads you to points
east and south, including Thames and Tauranga.
Turn left - the turn-off is well marked -
or press on straight ahead? At this point,
you are still on the motorway and bowling
along very nicely at 90/100kph. Turning left
does take you off the motorway, but it is
a bit of a lottery as to whether this will
slow you down much.
Never-the-less, it is tempting to bowl on straight ahead for Hamilton and Rotorua, or the Kiwi House, Waitomo Caves and Mt Ruapehu. But my vote goes for turning left for the Coromandel scenery, Waihi, Karangahake Gorge, then on to Katikati (The Mural Town), Tauranga, Rotorua, Taupo and Mt Ruapehu.
Mind you, if you checked up on the weather situation before leaving Auckland and it indicates storms and gales to the east, but a more stable situation down the middle of the island, then it is a good idea to do just that.
The thing about New Zealand weather is that more often than not it changes dramatically over a 3-day period, so bad weather in the east and good weather down the middle at any given time is very likely to quickly change. Therefore, touring the Central North Island circuit anti-clockwise in some circumstances is the prudent way to go.
For the purposes of this commentary, you will be turning left. Having said that, I really should mention that I live in Tauranga, and Tauranga is known as a Sunbelt area. So, yes, I am somewhat biased towards turning left here.
On to the Thames turn-off for another moment of decision.