Photo: RNZ / Chris Bruce
Coromandel's 309 Road is an old coach gravel road that winds 22km deep into the peninsula between Coromandel town and Whitianga.
On Friday, the remote road was the scene of a double shooting that left one man dead, one seriously injured, and another in custody.
RNZ understands police are likely to charge a person overnight following the shooting.
An extremely winding, curvy road, local tourism sites say it "takes you on a journey through dense bushland with lots of surprise stops to make along the road".
According to Wikipedia, it either got its name from there being 309 bends in the road, or because horse-drawn coaches used to take 309 minutes to travel it.
The road was reportedly developed during the Gold Rush era.
A Coromandel travel blog calls it "a largely unpeopled landscape, bordered by river, backdropped with birdsong".
Coromandel's 309 Road winds deep into the peninsula. Photo: Screenshot / Google Maps
On TripAdvisor, one dissatisfied traveller wrote, "Avoid that road".
"Just too dangerous, that road can turn your beautiful holiday to a terrible memory."
Another described it as a "drive through Jurassic Park," saying they "loved the pure adventure of this secluded drive through exotic tropical rainforest which I never knew existed."
Among the attractions described on the road is a honey shop and an ancient kauri grove, places for swimming an picnicking, as well as Waiau Falls and the scenic Castle Rock.
