One of several sceneries along our drive.
Kailani and Baby Bear, during our "East Cape Sunrise Pajama Party"
The sun rising on the East Cape
Early morning herding of cows along the road
09.06.08: From our campground in Ohope, we stopped at Whakatane to quickly stock-up at the local New World market before heading off to the East Cape. During the drive, it was a beautiful, blue sunny day. So far, the East Cape seems a lot like California about 50 years ago, with stunning coastline views and beautiful, blue ocean water, but without as much development or people. I took a TON of pictures because of the beautiful scenery, although it’s kind of hard in such a bouncy moving camper. As we drove along, we were hoping for some good surf spots. But the swell died off and nothing was really breaking. We stopped at a campground in Te Kaha. Again like in the northern part of the North Island, I think we were only camping there with one other person. That afternoon, we walked over to the beach and trolled around on the rocks along the point. Sean found a couple of small oysters and a sea urchin that we ate right there and casted his fishing line a couple times with no luck. Kailani picked-up a good some paua (abalone) shells to add to her collection. Unfortunately, we didn’t catch anything for dinner, so grilled tuna and cheese spelt bread sandwiches and Pitango minestrone soup it was.
The next morning, we continued our drive further towards the tip of the East Cape and stayed at a camp site in Araroa, which boasts the most easterly cinema screen in the world. (More on this below) From there, you could walk right out to the beach, granted you didn’t mind stepping around cow patties. Dairy is New Zealand’s biggest export! Along the way, we found the family that owns the campsite, fishing in the river for white bait, these tiny little fish that they fry up and the kids say they eat like chips. Boy, do Kiwi’s like their chips! They seem to serve them with everything, and apparently compare other things to them in order to get their kids to eat stuff. Anyway, we made it down to the beach, but the waves were a mess. So from there, we hopped back in the camper and drove down the street to Hick’s Bay. It was a more sheltered cove and looked more surfable, although I let Sean go first. He caught one wave and struggled to get back out after that. So, I passed. That night, we went to sleep as early as we possibly could, which wasn’t hard considering how secluded and peaceful it was on the East Cape.
We woke up at 4:30am the next morning so we could drove to lighthouse on the furthest point on the East Cape to see the sun rise. Basically, that point is the furthest east spot in New Zealand, and because of time zones, New Zealand is considered the furthest easterly country in the world. So, when we saw the sun rise, we were the first in the world to see it, and we might have been the only one’s that day. When we got to the end of the road where the lighthouse was, there was only one other guy there crashed out in the back seat of his car. It’s hard to say whether he was there to do the same thing or not. But at that point, you had to get out of your car to walk up several hundred steps to actually get to the lighthouse. Considering how cold, windy and slightly sprinkling it was, and the fact that we were still in our PJs, we opted to park off the side of the road and watch it from the window in the back of the camper, still in our PJs. Sean fixed himself a cup of coffee, and Kai and I played like we were having a pajama party. As far as the sun rise, the sun had to break through the clouds, but it was still fun to see.
From there, we took off to our next destination, which has to be the earliest we’ve taken off in the morning ever. Heading down the coast, we were still on the hunt for some good surf spots. I’m sure Sean was on a mission to redeem himself from the day before. Unfortunately, nothing looked that great. We ended up driving for several hours. Every time we came upon the next camp site, it was still sprinkling and windy. So, we figured we’d keep driving. Otherwise, we’d be stuck in the camper all day with crappy weather. We ended up driving all the way out of the East Cape towards the town of Gisborne. I guess that’s what we get for having so much time left in the day. Finally, towards the outskirts of Gisborne, there was a beach called Makarori, where the waves were lining up. Again, I let Sean jump out only to find him back before I was halfway done with my cup of tea. Apparently, there was still quite a current going on out there. Since we were so close to Gisborne, we decided we’d just go to a camp site there.
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