Today we said farewell to the Golden Grove Campsite and started heading east, along state highway 2.
First stop was Te Puke, or as the New Zealander’s know it the ‘Kiwi Capital of the World’. This area is NZ’s biggest kiwi fruit growing area in the country, a business that is worth over a billion $’s a year. We stopped for a photo at Kiwi 360, which has possibly the largest kiwi fruit in the world!
We then started along the Eastern Bay of Plenty coastline, a beautiful stretch of deserted sandy beaches and quiet roads.
The last main town on the coast before we entered the East Cape area was Whakatane (pronounced fa-ka-ta-ne, as all Maori words that start ‘Wh’ are pronounced ‘fa’). We topped up with petrol for the start of the Pacific Coast Highway, a road that stretches around the entire Eastern Cape. A route on which there are small Maori villages, few petrol stations, and more Maraes (Maori meeting houses) than fast food outlets.
We stopped for lunch just outside the small coastal village of Opotiki, at Waiotahi Beach. At the eastern end of the beach were two magnificently carved poles – Te ara Ki Te Tairawhiti - “The Pathway to the Sunrise”. They depict the arrival of the Maori people to Opotiki, with the European Soldier and the Maori Wahine (woman) portraying the togetherness of the races.
From our lunchtime spot on the beach we could also see across the sea to the White Island, NZ’s only active marine volcano. In the picture below you can just make out steam rising from the centre of the island.
As we left Opotiki the road slowly snaked around the coast, we rarely passed another car, and felt quite alone. The next village of interest was Torere, where we stopped to admire the beautifully carved Whakairo Gateway to Torere School.
As we left Torere and climbed up the coastal road we saw first hand the effect that the recent heavy downpours have had on this area, the road had been washed into the sea. As construction workers were trying to piece it back together again we crawled past gawping!
We next stopped in Te Kaha (meaning ‘to stand firm’) which owes it’s name to the many sieges by invading tribes that it withstood. At Te Keha Tukaki we took a picture of the beautifully carved Marae (meeting house).
And, not far along the coast was Raukokere Anglican Church, perched in an isolated spot on the promontory.
We passed Cape Runaway, and then headed inland, to pass through the mountainous area emerging out onto the east coast at Hicks Bay.
We have stopped for the night at what feels like one of the most isolated places we have been on our travels so far. Te Araroa settlement is at the top of the East Cape region (if you have a map handy), and the Holiday Park is very basic and empty! Outside the van it is pitch black, and we have a friendly horse for company, which scared the life out of Nicola when we went to wash-up in the camp kitchen!
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