Ride & Joy

This month Toni Marshall shares how she had the perfect driving experience over the Christmas holidays … well almost!

Words by: Toni Marshall

Yes I admit it; I was another Aucklander invading the Coromandel during the Christmas/New Year break. Circumstances meant we pushed across the firth of Thames gateway on Boxing Day. Further circumstances had required us to taxi a 'spare' car to the beach for one of the off-spring who turned up after Rhythm and Vines to claim her ride and joy.
Driving in our mini convoy we both converged on the all new Kopu Bridge within minutes of each other. Conversations on Christmas Day presented a consensus of sorts that firmly predicted possible chaos as everyone descended on the round-about on the Thames side of the brand new majestic two-lane bridge.  For some reason I found myself feeling very apprehensive as the new gateway to one of the world's most beautiful peninsulas came into view.
No queues, no chaos, no lights ... just a feeling of significant change. For all my life the Kopu Bridge signified the emotional beginning of every summer holiday. Sweltering in the back of the old family car we had to open and close the doors repeatedly as we inched our way forward in snaking queues for what always seemed an eternity.  Always an avalanche of questions directed at the ever-patient father in the front seat,  ‘Why do we always take so long to cross dad?’ ‘Can't they just change the lights?’ ‘How much longer?’
This year, a new two-lane bridge, a car void of children, I crossed solo with my partner trailing me ... all just confirming that life moves on, things change.  With memories and emotions swelling up inside me, the crossing was completed with little fuss nor fanfare. The Kopu Bridge had lost all its romance and meaning. 'God I'm getting old' I thought!’