Blogs from Gisborne, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 5

New Zealand is certainly living up to its name; The Land of the Long White Cloud. It was raining when I went to bed, it rained all night and it rained most of today. So much so, that my schedule was shortened and I opted to assume that the weather would be better over the mountains in Gisborne rather than stop en route as originally planned. It was a long night, the warmth made worse with me being kept awake by the rain hammering on the metal roof of my bed. There was also quite a wind blowing which caused the branches to scrape along the side of the van - none of this conducive to a good night’s sleep. To cap it all, there was a small earthquake; the second that day. With the incessant ... read more

The Pacific Coast Highway is a grand name and a beautiful route to explore. The lighthouse on the cape here is the most easterly piece of land in the world. This meant that if we were up in time, we would be the first on the planet to see the sun rise on the new day - any further and it would still be yesterday. (The concept of the international date line can be hard to explain to children and Rosie). We climbed the 700 (seven hundred) steps at about 7.00am to get there in time. I like to think that the rugged twenty-somethings who also emerged onto the cliff-top that day were a little humbled to see that a family of five had got there too! ... read more

Left Napier in drizzle. The road north winds through sheep farming hills. I hadn’t topped up with petrol and was relieved to be able to top up in the first town of any size, Wairoa. The town has noticeably more people of Maori descent. We found an excellent bakery/café.. I indulged in the Antipodean obsession with pies - having a very good smoked fish one. Then the short distance to Marere hot springs. It is a cheap (NZ$ 5) place which is quite strange. You walk about 10 minutes along a track into the bush.to get to some of the thermal springs where you can luxuriate in the lovely warm water (there is a more standard hot pool and cold swimming pool back nearer the entrance). The YHA at Gisborne was full so we ended up ... read more