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We finally managed to make a decision on where to go so headed to Napier. We stopped briefly in Hastings to see some of the Spanish style buildings in town. However it hadn’t stopped raining since the night before so we weren’t really in the mood for walking around. Instead we headed straight for a campsite to hanker down for the day as the rain wasn’t about to ease up!
The following day we headed to Art Deco Napier. It was a bit of a grey day and overcast but at least it had stopped raining. The main town is the only place that is in the Art Deco style along with the sound shell on the seafront, so its really concentrated in one area. We walked around the town to see the beautiful styled buildings though the air conditioning units didn’t really match in with the style!! We wandered along the seafront and the sun even came out for a while which was lovely. I had phoned the local schools but didn’t have any reply so we headed straight on to Gisborne instead of waiting around for a phone call that never came!
Gisborne is a small town
at the Northern end of Hawke’s Bay. Unfortunately the weather had turned again and we were in for a wet night. The following morning we went in search of the International Surf Comp that was happening. We stayed for a while and watched a few of the heats, problem was it was so windy that the waves weren’t that good and they kept halting the competition as it was too rough for any clean waves. It was also very cold!! We were heading around the east cape on the Pacific Coast highway from Gisborne so as the weather wasn’t nice enough to watch the surf comp we started on our journey around the cape. We were hoping for some better weather and a few nice days spent travelling around the cape. First stop on the agenda was Tolaga Bay - after that we weren’t really sure!
We got to Tolaga Bay early afternoon and the sun had finally come out - it was still windy but at least it wasn’t raining anymore. We walked along the Jetty - which is the longest Jetty in New Zealand at 660 meters long! We then played a bit of Frisbee in the
field as we were about the only people staying at the campsite so there was plenty of space around. Later that evening we did a bit of fishing off the Jetty as we thought it may deep enough to catch some fish - however about the last third was closed off due to strengthening works going on. Luckily the very nice workmen asked if we wanted to go to the end to fish, so we did in the hope of better luck - however there still wasn’t any fish around!
The following morning we walked the Cooks Cove walkway. This is one of the bays where Captain Cook landed and sheltered for a while. We started on the walk which began all up hill through fields of sheep but due to the heavy rainfalls of the last few days was very muddy and slippery! We made it to the top of the hill and Mark didn’t really want to continue on as he wasn’t feeling great so he headed back to the van and I headed onwards to the cove. It was all downhill from when I left Mark and through the forest. There were so many birds around and
it felt like I was thousand of miles away from civilisation in the middle of the forest - plus I didn’t see another person on the rest of the walk!! The cove is actually quite small and can be seen from the lookout where I’d left Mark. The monument that’s there is really small and rather disappointing. The ‘hole in the wall’ archway has a spectacular sound to it though as the waves crash into it!
Once I came back from the walk we had some lunch and headed on to find a cash machine and a nice place to stay. Although this is the Pacific Coast Highway we weren’t really driving next to the coast and spent most of the time inland with no view of the sea. The glimpses of the bays and beaches we did get were very rocky and not that inviting - it also didn’t help that it was raining again. We made it to the turn off for the Lighthouse but after turning up the road we decided to turn around. I know we have been along some gravel roads in this van but we weren’t willing to continue along this one for
20 miles each way!! It was under maintenance and we had to keep moving for the tractor, it was muddy and gravely, plus it was raining and we were going to lose light- so we chose to turn around and head on to find somewhere to stay. And so we drove, and drove and drove. Every little town ship and bay we came across was not very exciting and we found ourselves getting towards the end of the East Cape drive. So eventually we stopped just East of Opotiki in a small campsite in Tirohanga. We decided to stay two nights to do some washing and recover from the epic journey we had just driven in one day!! We then found out that we were caught in the tail end of a cyclone that was just passing off the east coast of New Zealand - hence all the rain!! There wasn’t a lot to do in the rain and the beach was really windy and rainy so we couldn’t even go for a walk!!
We are going to dog sit for Steve (my step-brother) soon in Papamoa so we need to work out a route so that we end up
there when we need to, as well as avoid the areas we will be when we get to Steve’s, so think it may be across to Taupo next!!
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