Hidden gems - the bays of the East Cape

The drive from Gisborne to the East Cape takes in some incredible hidden gems along the way - Tolaga Bay, Tokomaru Bay and the little known Anaura Bay which was our pick of spots on the 230 km/hr drive north.

We headed up the coast - first stop the view over Makorori beach. There were a fair few keen surfers out catching the waves, clearly making the most of the day off that Easter Monday gave them.

From here we headed north to Tolaga Bay to the world-famous-in-NZ-pier - it's the longest in NZ. It actually takes at least 10 minutes to walk all the way to the end - all 660 metres of it!

The wharf was built over three years between 1926 and 1929 and provided an important link to the rest of the East Coast before all the modern roads had been completed.

Out from the pier went meat, wool and livestock and in came petrol, beer and general merchandise.

But by the time 1967 arrived so did the last ship and the pier had had its day, which at only 30 years of useful service for such a big engineering effort seems a bit of a waste.

I have a real thing for piers - can you tell?

I just LOVE the vanishing point that the lines of a pier give you - drawing you into the picture.

This photo below is my favourite from the day though - I'm not sure what it is I love - I think the texture of the concrete combined with the green of the sea, the stormy looking clouds and hills in the distance.

Next stop - Anaura Bay and truly this was the place-de-resistance of the day. From the main road north, it's about a 7km detour to the coast. But when you come over the last hill and see this... well paradise springs to mind.

We sat and ate our picnic lunch on the almost deserted beach (apart from one other family).

Actually I may have to re-neg on my earlier call of 'shot of the day' - I think I love the one below equally as much!

The boys had fun hooning around chasing each other on a big circle someone had drawn in the sand.

I wish we could have stayed longer here - the incredible peace and serenity of the place was overwhelming.

Just before we left the beach the boys spotted a dead stingray in the sand.

Noah tried hard to turn it over with a big stick he found but the stingray was surprisingly unco-operative, and it was time to hit the road.

Next stop: Tokomaru Bay. I'm not sure I've ever seen the sea as turquoise as it was here.

It was a bit windier here and we only stopped briefly to stretch our legs. Still picture postcard perfect though.

So further up the Cape we went. Mark found his inner bro outside the Kai Kart in Ruatoria. I don't know that much about the place other than it is a very strong Maori population and that it was the target of a spate of arson attacks back in the 1980's.

Further north, we hit a classic Kiwi country scene, giving way to a whole herd of sheep being driven up the road. I love coming upon sights like this - it reminds me just how remote parts of the country are.

When we hit the top of the Cape, we had a decision to make. By this stage it was about 2.30pm and we were trying to decide whether to take the turn-off and drive to the East Cape lighthouse which was one of the spots I had definitely wanted to visit on the trip? It would have been another 2 hours return plus another hour to our book-a-bach from there. We did some rough calculations and worked out it would mean not arriving in Waihau Bay till after 6pm so we decided that we'd stick to our original plan of going back and making a day of it the next day. As it turned out that never happened as I was struck down even harder with the Crohn's flare-up that had been bugging me all holiday and was bedridden for most of the rest of the holiday. So the lighthouse got away this time, but I'm sure that one day we will return!

Autumn awesomeness at the Arboretum

The weather was a little grey and dull on Easter Sunday and once again it took us a fair while to get out of the house with the distraction of another game of Phase 10, coffee and hot cross buns to wile away the morning. And who could forget the easter egg hunt - the Easter bunny decided it needed to be an indoor one at this holiday house as the weather was threatening rain, but the boys didn’t seem to mind. What we did mind was the early start - blimin clocks going back always mess things up for a few days, most mornings on the holiday this meant the boys were up before 5am, usually Mylo first, and once one is awake when sharing a room they both are!

On this day we headed inland about 50 minutes into the hills of Gisborne to Rere Falls and Rere Rockslides. I was a little disappointed that the flow over the falls was so minimal, but shouldn’t really have been that surprised given the hot and dry summer we’ve had. After taking a few shots, the drizzle started and we headed up the road to see if any brave souls were taking on the Rere Rockslide - which they were. We’d half contemplated that Mark and Noah might give it a go but after watching a few others do it, we decided that a wetsuit should be a minimum requirement - maybe another time! It was still fun watching a few fearless folk flying down the slide at a rate of knots though.

Next stop was the Eastwood Hill Arboretum - although the drizzle looked to have set in and we weren’t sure how much fun we’d have walking around in the wet for a couple of hours. Luckily we managed to nab a brolly at the visitor centre and just as we started walking the rain stopped! The arboretum is a really impressive place and has been cultivated over decades and decades - there are a huge number of trails and extended walks you can do within its boundaries and you could easily lose yourself there for a whole day. One thing that amazed me in general about the whole Gisborne area was how far advanced the autumn colours already were here - given how warm and dry the region is known to be, but perhaps that's actually the reason why?!

Fairly early into our walk, a friendly little fantail befriended us, flitting from one tree to the next and following us for quite some time. He was a little tricky to get a picture of though, as he never stayed in one place very long!

The boys were so intrigued by the fantail, calling to it and encouraging it to keep coming after us!

After a few minutes, he must have decided he was getting out of his natural territory as we walked further into the depths of the forest and as quickly as he'd appeared, suddenly he was gone again.

I loved this clearing we came upon - the algae (or something like that) made for a glorious green glowing reflection of the light above.

High on the hill we found a conker tree, and the boys enjoyed weighing their pockets down completely with as many as they could fit in.

The views from our vantage point showed the lovely autumn colours turning to their best.

Home made tommy knocker anyone?!

This one speaks for itself really?! Boys just being boys. I must admit I am a little envious of their ability to just go when the moment takes them - especially from one who has such an active bladder and is always never too far away from needing the loo - being able to just 'go on demand' would be kinda handy. That's not to say I haven't done my fair share of 'bush wees' either mind you!

The Eastwood Hill Arboretum is well worth the visit - it wasn't a cheap day out at $36 for the family when really all you're doing is going for a little jolly jaunt in the bush but it is a very, very beautiful spot especially at this time of year with all the colours so well on the turn.

It's a place I can imagine some of our nearest and dearest family and friends who are nature lovers would also be in raptures over!