Did I mention we had a really fun time?

Thanks for all the laughs!

You make a very spooky curtain ghost, AM.

Gisborne and the trip home through the Waioeka gorge.

My camera battery gave out in Gisborne.
This is the ONLY picture I took there.
Thank goodness it is such a good one!



I managed to coax a few more pictures out of my battery in the gorge.

Whangara

If you've not seen Whale Rider, go see it now (and fall for Cliff Curtis). Then read the book. Then read all of Witi Ihimaera's other books, and fall for Witi Ihimaera.

These pictures will mean a lot more to you.

Ok, these little beached whale props are really cute.
I love the one struggling up the hill.

Oh look, the waka (prop) and the whale island in the background (real) that the story is based on!
Fantastic!

Tolaga Bay

Tolaga Bay has the longest wharf in the southern hemisphere at 660 meters.
It is currently being repaired so you can only walk out about 400 meters.
At the 400 meter mark there is a buoy tied to the wharf
and if you are lucky you can use that buoy to play with a dolphin that hangs out there.



We had tea at the cafe at the Tolaga Inn. Highly recommended.

Toward Gisborne

We saw this on our way back to town after greeting the sun.
Two of my favorite things: cows and wakas.
Dreamy.


The Waipu Anglican church is said to have gorgeous carvings and marvelous stained glass windows.
It was locked, so I'll have to call again, on a Sunday next time.
This is the cross that is on the back side of the entrace gate to the church grounds.

Waipu Co-op has seen better days.
No wonder the church is locked, eh?

In Ruatoria we stopped for groceries and and breakfast.
I was excited to buy a local pie, but sadly could only give this a 4 out of 10 on the steak and cheese pie scale.
Perhaps I should have tried mince.

Salutations to the Sun

Ata marie!

On the ninth of October I wrote:
"Tux, the camp dog, was sad to be left behind when we left camp at 0545 to be the first to greet the sun today."

5:45 is a dark time of morning.



We didn't greet the sun from the lighthouse, but on the coast outside of Rangitukia.

The east cape has an amazing amount of driftwood.
Where does it all come from?

Looking back toward Mount Hikurangi



It was worth getting up at 0515 to see this sunrise, and to be among the first to greet the day.

Mystery Sticks

These things, which seem to be the marine equivalent of a scare crow, line the gravel road to the lighthouse.



They reminded me a little of the Blair Witch.
Spooky.

We took a lot of pictures of them.
I didn't dare get so close.
Thankfully, she didn't get eaten.

What are they?

The East Cape Lighthouse

We made it!



This is the view from the lighthouse toward Gisborne.

Te Araroa to the Lighthouse

This is leaving Te Araroa heading toward the east cape lighthouse.



Somehow in Te Araroa we missed seeing the largest Pohutukawa tree.
We found out later it is in the school yard.

This pohutukawa tree had several black and white shags (cormorants) nesting in it.
They are big birds and look an awful lot like penguins.

The guidebooks all give instructions for finding the path leading to the lighthouse like this,
"at the end of the road turn around and go back 500 meters. you will find the path behind the derelict huts."
The guidebooks were right.

So we donned our hats and off we went.

Waihau Bay and Lottin Point

Our goal was to stay the night in Te Araroa so that we could wake at 4:15am (really!) and make the trek out to the lighthouse so that we could be the first people on the entire planet to greet the sun, but we realized if we drove any further we would run out of gas. There are not a lot of petrol stations on the east cape. Learn from our mistake. That is if you can call staying at this place in Waihau a mistake:


At least we got to see this sunset!

The next day we spent quite a bit of time exploring Lottin Point.
We were hoping to see Dolphins and Whales.
We didn't see any but weren't really disappointed.

Raukokore

Many of the carvings paid tribute to the men who fought and died in the first world war.



This is Raukokore marae.

This is another 180 picture.

Once you go around the bend in the road above you see this:



The "immaculately maintained beacon of belief" Anglican Church.

And the attached cemetery.

Whanarua Bay

This is the marae entrance* at Whanarua Bay.



After taking this picture I turned 180 degrees and took the following picture:

I don't think I have mentioned this yet, but the East Cape is unimaginably beautiful.


*For the record, no maraes were entered on our journey, but all 753 that were visible from the road were admired and many were photographed.

Gateway

This is Taketakerau, the largest puriri tree in all the land.

Aha! There it is! The east cape! Glorious!

And here is the east cape seen through the belly of a shark. (dolphin?)

Woohoo! We made it! And so we enter the east cape!

signage of the EC

If you have a full bladder here you should look for a toilet, because you won't find any restrooms of bathrooms in NZ.

This is the sign above this literal outdoor resting room in Whakatane.

I guess back in the day they had restrooms, but that was when the world was full of ladies.

Modern women get to use toilets just like the menfolk. Go women's lib!

Did you know NZ was the first country to allow women to vote?

And while we don't have Smokey the Bear, we do have this fellow and his son to remind us that smoking in the forest is never a good idea!