Mammoth trek to the East Coast and Gisborne

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New Plymouth to Gisborne 24th February

Up early and on the road at 7am

Now Doris (our Sat Nav) wasn't quite awake and as we went down the east side of Mt Taranaki she wanted to take us back to Dawson Falls.

Mind you Mt Taranaki looked beautiful with the sun rising on her.

We'd chosen to go South towards Palmerston North before passing through the Manawatu Gorge and turning North for the run up to Gisborne.

With Doris now awake we headed down to Hawera, now don't expect too much stopping on this route.

For instance Hawera's listed highlights include an Elvis Presley museum which houses over 10,000 of the kings records and a mind boggling collection of memorabilia!!!



Apparently a good pit stop to stretch your legs, onwards to Whanganui which we easily bypassed to head towards Palmerston North.



I had wanted to stop here, apparently it is the home of the New Zealand Rugby Museum full of the oval balls paraphernalia. As we approached Doris had other ideas and took on a quick bypass of the city and out onto SH2 towards the Manawatu Gorge.



So I didn't get to see the Museum after all Heather!!!?



Now the weather on the west side of the gorge was sunny, after we had passed through it was dreary and cloudy. The Maori named the gorge Te Apiti - the Narrow Passage. There is one of the largest wind farms in the Southern Hemisphere sited here.

From here we started to head North with the mountain range now on our left side, looking at the map there were not many large towns on the route.

Dannevirke was the likeliest candidate, a small town founded by Scandinavians in 1872 is predominantly a service town for the dairy and beef industries.

It earned the nickname of 'sleeper town' because of the numbers of sleepers produced for the Napier - Wellington railway line from the totara tree.

This would account for the number of lumber lorries trundling through Dannevirke's high street while we had a coffee and a piece of chocolate cake (a birthday treat).



We were seeing lots of lumber transporters as we began to head North. So lots of forestry and timber!!



Pushing on we still had another 4 hours of driving, the countryside going from heavily forested to lush cattle plains in the blink of an eye. We bypassed Napier, because we are back in a couple of days and took the highway up towards Gisborne.



Gisborne, the travel books say is a good place to put your feet up, hit the beach and sip some wine - right up our street then!!!



Sometimes referred to as the 'City of Rivers', Gisborne sits at the convergence of the Waimata, Taruheru and Turanganui rivers. At only 1200 meters long, Tūranganui is the shortest river in New Zealand.



The area has been settled for over 700 years.



East Coast oral traditions offer differing versions of Gisborne's establishment by Maori. One of which legends recounts that in the 1300s, the great navigator Kiwa landed at the Tūranganui River first on the waka Takitimu after voyaging to the region from Hawaiki and that Pāoa, captain of the waka Hourata, followed later. According to one legend, Kiwa waited so long for the Horouta canoe to arrive that he called its final landing place Tūranganui-a-Kiwa (<em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none;">The long waiting place of Kiwa).

During the 14th century, Māori tribes built fishing villages close to the sea and built pa (defensive settlements)on nearby hilltops.



Gisborne's Kaiti Beach is the place where British navigator Captain James Cook made his first landing in New Zealand on the ship Endeavour, Cook had earlier set off from Plymouth, England in August 1768 on a mission bound for Tahiti. Once he had concluded his duties in Tahiti, Cook continued south to look for a large landmass or continent. Young Nicks Head Was thought to be the first piece of New Zealand land sighted by Cook's party, and so named because it was first observed by cabin boy Nicholas Young on 6 October 1769.



On 9 October, Cook came ashore on the eastern bank of the Tūranganui River, accompanied by a party of men. Their arrival was marred by misunderstanding and resulted in the death and wounding of nine Maori over four days. Because of the fracas, Cook failed to provision the ship and left naming the area as Poverty Bay in a fit of petulance as 'it did not affordable single item we wanted'.



European settlement began in 1831 with whaling and farming with missionaries following. In 1860's battles between settlers and Maoris erupted and insurrection spread from Taranaki to the East Coast culminating in the battle of Waerenga a Hika in 1865.



Bloody missionaries again.



Arriving mid afternoon, a cock up with the hotel, saw us in the Penthouse for the first night and having to move to our allocated room on the second day. The Penthouse was huge, they even set up as a meeting room sometimes for up to 30 people.



A birthday meal, at the Works opposite the hotel across the river. Lovely to sit outside on a warm summers evening.



A beautiful warm morning greeted our first day and a walk along the shore. This is a working Port, for fishing but primarily for shipping timber. Curious as we walked around the Bay was a single train track that ran in front of the Portside Hotel where we were staying.

Cooks monument is in Titirangi Park and marks the spot where Cook first got New Zealand dirt on his boots, this lies on the industrial side of the port.



The walk along the shore brings you to Captain Cooks statue and the statue of Young Nick. Cooks cabin boy whose eagle eyes were the first to spot New Zealand.

The walk takes you round to Waikanae Beach, a safe swimming beach surrounded by holiday parks. Back into town and a poor lunch at the Rivers pub, poor choice for us which led yours truly to trek to the supermarket for provisions to eat in.



I think as the guide book said it was time to sip some wine and relax.



I did mention the railway, well at about 5 pm we both looked up from what we doing and train carriages and train shunted past our window.

Welcome the Gisborne City Vintage Railway, this evening taking passengers to Muriwai and to the world of the WA165 Steam Locomotive. If any of you who read these blogs are train enthusiasts (Euan/Corinna you'll have to show the picture to Peter) then this bits for you.

WA165 is the only remaining WA class train which was built in Hillside workshops in 1897 in Dunedin, New Zealand. Our WA165 was the ideal locomotive for the heavily graded railway line between Gisborne and Motuhora where it spent most of its working life.

Now Wa165 is retired but comes out for special steam trips and tonight was one of them. The trip runs between Gisborne and Muriwai and encompasses some unique features such as crossing the main Gisborne airport runway (the only train ride in the Southern Hemisphere to do so) and across the Waipaoa river bridge.



So the mystery of what the railway is used for has been solved.



Nice to have a dinner in, while watching the day boats flit past the window.



Moving on to Napier this morning 26th February.

A leisurely start to Sunday and we wake up to a beautiful morning and the Emerald Princess at anchor in Poverty Bay. Guess what, the train was back, obviously one of the trips the cruise ship passengers would be taking.

We called at the Matwhero Vineyard as we left Gisborne. We had tried this wine in Paihia at Charlottes Kitchen. When we arrived, all the tables were set for about 100. You got it, the cruise ship passengers were on their way.

Still a nice tasting, 11am on a Sunday morning, coffee an then a couple of purchases and on our way.



A quiet drive down the Art Deco town and wine area of Napier in Hawkes Bay.

To be a highlight of our time in New Zealand.

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