roadquill1

Greetings dear family and friends! Our New Zealand adventure is nearing an end. Here is the next to last instalment…

Day 47: March 19
Our first night in Gisborne was almost quiet…the wind came up (no rain) and a palm tree brushed and banged on our wall during the night. In the morning we checked out of our motel, and headed into town where we began our explorations with a drive around the hill overlooking city and the harbour to Kaiti Beach and Yacht Club where we watch young sailors launch sabots in fresh breezes. Then, we headed back into town and drove to the top of the Kaiti Hill for panoramic views of the harbour, and the beach where James Cook first landed in New Zealand. (His landing resulted in some miscommunications, and things turned nasty resulting in the death of several Maoris, his rapid departure and the naming of the bay as Poverty Bay since he wasn’t able to get supplies that he needed.)
We parked in town and began a river-front walk which began by encountering many locals who had participated in a “Colour Walk”. Most of the sidewalks, some of the lawns, the walkers and their dogs were doused in various colours of powdered paints. Colourful…but messy. Glad we were late for the walk! Our trail took us through some beautiful older residence areas, and along riverside parks. We were treated to a female team practicing paddling in a large outrigger.
All in all, we walked most of the Gisborne downtown and waterfront – about 10 km.
We moved to a new motel for our second night in Gisborne – this time a block from the beach of Poverty Bay, and the statue of James Cook.
Day 38: March 20
We have chosen the inland route to Opotiki (a ‘tired’ little town) and then Whakatane – through an area called the Waioeke Gorge. Like much of our travel through NZ, this road is very twisty, and has steep climbs and drops. And always…the speed limit signs show 100, but immediately after a posted speed limit, there is a slow to 55, or 35, or 25. I can seldom attain the speed limit, and frequently am looking for pull-offs to allow speedier drivers to pass.
Whakatane is a beautiful little waterfront town with a fairly active town centre. Again, we wander the town core, locate our motel, and then hike the riverside walkway back into down town. (Sound familiar? See a pattern here?) We close off our afternoon with Indian food (“do you want ‘Indian medium’, or ‘Kiwi medium’? – I chose the Kiwi level) and follow with a drive to the high (very high) point of land – Kohe Point – above the town. We watch a beautiful sunset, and meet some young Mormon missionaries who are there for the same uplifting experience, I suppose.
Day 39: March 21
This turns out to be perhaps the most beautiful day of our time in New Zealand. The trip up the coast is much like the drive from Queen Charlotte City to Tlell – gorgeous unpopulated beaches. We picked one, and sat on the sand to read our books for an hour or so, and then headed on toward the city of Tauranga. At Papamoa Beach we bought coffees and and shared a meat pie and a Danish, and then carried on towards the very end of the peninsula at Mount Maunganui where there is a small almost islet called Motiriki. This prominence is fronted by fabulous beaches, so we decided to hike the trail to the top of the islet, head into Tauranga City to an I-Site (information centre), find our motel, and then return to the beach. All proceeds as planned, and our motel is marvellous, in a quiet residential area. We arrive back at the beautiful beach by 2:30, and soak up warm sun and swim – for several hours! (Yes, yes…I had sunscreen on.) Okay, I don’t often mention our meals, but I must bring your attention to my birthday supper that evening – pizza – from a recommended little place called The Pizza Library Co. This is a takeout place, where all of the pizzas have literary names – like Pinocchio, Hamlet, and Janet and the Giant Peach. The decor is offbeat, with old seats from theatres, library books on the shelves, and the staff all wearing bowler hats. The young lady who took our order was very genuine and outgoing and as we were the only patrons at the moment, we enjoyed her cheer thoroughly! And…the pizzas were excellent! This was truly a great birthday, and first FULL day of Spring – in New Zealand!
Day 40: March 22
Today we head over another twisty, windy road towards Whitianga. At the town of Whangamata, we encountered the beginnings of what looked like a town celebration and parade. We noticed many parked vehicles from the 1950s and 60s. Quickly we moved on, but on the road towards Whitianga, for probably 15 minutes to 1/2 hour, (on twisty, windy, roads, of course) we passed hundreds of vintage vehicles heading in the opposite direction. After the tail-end of this amazing parade of vehicles, we finally passed the turnoff to the famous Hot Water Beach, where you dig a pit in the sand at low tides and the pit fills with thermal hot water. As I said…we passed it! In Whitianga, we located our accommodations for the next 2 nights, unloaded and headed out to explore in our usual fashion – again under clear, sunny skies. At the I-Site, we learned that the parade of vintage vehicles was returning for the Beach Hop Festival the next day.
Since technically, it was yet another day of celebration for me…March 21 back in Canada…I once again chose supper – burgers! (Pretty cool eh? Pizza, and then burgers! I am sure I have friends who will be disgusted with my selected culinary delights! I am only missing hotdogs! And now…enough about food.)
Day 41: March 23
We are beginning to see the beautiful high pressure weather system breaking down, and cloud cover has rolled in. However, so do the vintage vehicles – for over an hour! They pour into town (where many folks are dressed for the fifties, and old rock sounds from a number of live bands). After an hour of bemused wanderings trying to impress each other with incorrect aging of vehicles, we let go of our past, and catch a ferry across Whitianga Harbour, and hike the 4 km to Cooks Beach. We are the only people on this – another great example of this part of the world’s fabulous sandy beaches, so we swim naked! (I am lying, of course. Just checking to see if you are still reading!)
On the walk back, we stop and sunbathe at Front Beach. Then we head home. To my shock, it being Sandy’s turn to choose dinner – she chooses HAMBURGERS! She was very impressed with them on my repeat birthday evening! And so…we have come to…
Day 42: March 24
We are both feeling the pull of home, and overexposure to windy roads, and spectacular beaches. With only 45 km of direct driving today to Coromandel Town, we meander a bit, find beaches at a couple more off-the-track ‘bach’ (a term for seasonal cottages – presumably from ‘bachelor’) towns, and finally settle in Coromandel Town. What do we do?? Why hike, of course! …through town, over the height of land above the town, and back along the beach road. The rains have held off, but generally today, we were under high cloudy skies. With only two more full days in New Zealand, perhaps we will be lucky enough to avoid potential showers.
For the record…the roads that we drove over the last couple of days took the brunt of that massive rain storm of about 10 days ago. In Whitianga, apparently they received 250 mm of rain in a 6 day period. In that same period, a valley that we will be near tomorrow outside of Thames, had 850 mm of rain – almost a meter! (Roads there will be under repair for months!) We have seen all kinds of evidence of “slips” (mudslides) that have been scraped off the roads. We are sure glad that we altered our plans after returning Montana to Auckland.
As always, we thank-you for your comments, and can assure you that the blog entries will now become much shorter – until the next long road trip, of course!
Love and best wishes to you all…
Sandy, and Tony (as in T…for the Tilley Man!)