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Published: October 5th 2022
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Tolaga Bay
Morning tea We're on a 26 day road trip through the North Island going to places we've never been or where we haven't been for many years.
It started in Martinborough, Wairarapa, for Lyn's delayed 70th birthday treat given to her by the children - two nights in the Olive Tree Cottage for 4 (we took John and Sharyn with us), and a dinner at Tirohana Estate Winery. The weather was rubbish; wet and cold but we enjoyed looking around Martinborough and Greytown on the Saturday in the cold southerly along with all the other Wellingtonians who gravitate to those towns on the weekend. Good bookshops. The countryside is saturated. Paddocks are drowned with ponds and min-lakes everywhere after weeks of rain.
The dinner at Tirohana was something else. One of the best restaurant meals we've had in a long time with good service, excellent wine and superb food.
On Sunday 2 October we left Martinborough for Napier for a couple of nights to visit Lyn's sister and some friends over the two days. Countryside again wet, wet, wet. We're staying in BnB's mostly and the Napier one was pretty good, comfortable, warm and cosy. Good to catch up with
the folks.
Tuesday morning it was on to Gisborne for a night where we caught up with my nephew Nick and his wife Lisa. Nick has left teaching after being a Principal for 15 years and they've bought a garden centre in Gisborne - Touchstone. We had a look before we left and they are going great guns. Also met up with one of Lyn's teaching mates, Penny, from HVHS days and had a good catch up. The BnB was as above - warm, cosy, clean, well-appointed. The only downside was the cat, Jackie, whose owners were away and he, being at home alone thought he should be in the BnB with us. So he stayed outside our door all night and meowed, varying it occasionally by jumping against the door to emphasise his displeasure. The first time he did it I woke up, jumped out of bed, turned on the light (the wrong one, it woke Lyn) thinking someone was trying to steal our bikes which were locked up outside. No.....just the loveable..... cat.
Anyway, we slept OK and took off this morning for the part of our trip we have been looking forward to - around
the East Cape in stages. Stage 1 today was to drive to Tokomaru Bay and stay the night in the old Post Office BnB. Along the way we stopped at Tolaga Bay, inspected the 660 metre long wharf, checked out the township and kept on to Anaura Bay which is a little 6k jaunt off the main drag out to the coast. It's a beautiful bay, long swimmable beach, not many residents and picturesque in the extreme. Also has a motor camp which used to be the old school. Worth a visit in summer.
Tokomaru Bay is another 30k or so north so we kept on through the potholes and wash outs, the stop-go men, the trucks, man it's brutal out there! We made it. Tokomaru Bay is a bigger settlement than Tolaga Bay but with the same long beach which in summer would be alive with visitors. It has a few retail places, a general store, pub, takeaway joint and the old Post Office BnB. It's amazing. It is the old PO and it's been converted to a place that sleeps 10 in separate rooms, the decor is in harmony with the age of the building, kept in
good condition, is well-equipped and right in the hearty of town. We felt we had stumbled on a gem. Highly recommended.
Later in the day we took our bikes for a spin around the town and waterfront. Saw a couple of guys riding horses in the school grounds; they told us they were breaking them in and these two were the last of six they had to do. Quite something to see them standing upright on the back of the horses, have them walk backwards, break into a canter, stop, all with the minimum of physical gesture or use of voice.
Further along the storm-damaged waterfront at the end of the road we arrived at the remains of the meatworks that had been established decades ago to process export meat. A wharf had been built to service the ships that picked it all up but with the improvement of roads it became uneconomical to ship it out, the works closed and the wharf is in a bad way and needs the same sort of restoration that the Tolaga Bay wharf has undergone. Lots of cash required to do that so it may never happen despite the efforts of
the local heritage society to keep some momentum up.
Lyn found that the fish and chip shop sold the fish so fresh it jumped off the plate at us and was delicious as well. Also ridiculously well-priced.
Tomorrow we head around East Cape to Waihau Bay and another BnB.
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