Travels and Birds: East Cape Drive

Morning view from the hotel

When I did arise at 6:00, I was pleased to see that we would have sunshine today even as I dismissed my disappointment at missing that first sunrise. We did still make the drive out to the lighthouse although, we did not make the climb. The road follows to the light follows the coastline from Te Araroa about 20 kilometers. About half is sealed and good driving. The rest is gravel, but most is still easy driving. Only a couple of kilometers have had a recent problem with slippage still in need of repair. Even these sections were easy driving and perfectly safe. We enjoyed the ocean views in the sunshine and the cattle,sheep, and horses along the way. We only had to slow for them a couple of times. They are fenced, but it’s hard to see how much good the fences actually do since the animals are still along the road. The early morning sun and a few clouds created some beautiful scenery with the mixture of greens and blues.

The world’s largest pohutukawa tree

Te Araroa Church

The turnoff to the lighthouse at Te Araroa is also the location of the world’s largest pohutukawa tree, New Zealand’s Christmas tree. The red flowers bloom during the Christmas season. This tree must put on a great show in the middle of summer to celebrate the season.

About one kilometer like this.
I was glad to not drive this in the dark.

So much beauty, we took a lot of pictures

This island really gets the first sunrise.
I think it is an off-limits reserve

Further down the road at Ruatoria, we tried a back road to the beach. After the beach I thought we could take a shortcut back to the highway. We made a quick stop to check the map and were told we had best move on as there was a herd of cows coming right through where we had stopped. We moved on about 15 miles down the road up and down one major hill only to reach a dead end. By the time we got back, the cows were still moving and we had to wind our way through them.

Cows don't easily obey and the dogs were not helping

The little boy is trying to help

Not an unusual scene in ranch country.
One of my bicycle rides near Malheur in Oregon was stopped by cattle

Further down the road, we at Tokomaru Bay, we talked about stopping for lunch. We hadn’t really made a decision as we passed Tokomaru, but as we climbed the hill out of town, we ran into a herd of sheep heading up the road. Their herder said they would be on the road for five more kilometers. Decision made.

Lunch at Tokomaru

We turned around and headed back into Tokomaru for lunch. We had a couple of burgers and a conversation with the owner. I started by asking about the tools on the wall. I recognized the shearing clippers, but had to ask about the others. She told me one was a drencher. The drencher is pushed down the sheep’s throat to administer medicine. The others were simply water sprayers. While chatting with her, she told me that the building was a replacement for one destroyed a few years earlier. The old building, built around 1900, had been completely demolished when a tree blocking the stream above gave way leading to a huge flood and landslide. It also destroyed several other buildings. After lunch we drove down the the site to see some of damage. We also saw the tramway that had carried goods off the pier and up the hillside. Tokomaru is one of the few towns we saw that has really fallen on hard times along the coast. The restaurant/hotel is doing fine, but with only some farming and forestry as industry, there just isn’t much income. Apparently, it was a stopping point for some passenger ships in the early 20th century and it was also a whaling station.

The White Cliffs of the Mahia Peninsula just north of Wairoa.
This peninsula is being readied to launch 200 rockets a year into space.
This is the world's first privately-owned orbital launch site.

After lunch we drove on to Wairoa where we would spend the night. As we entered town, we crossed the Wairoa River and passed the Portland Island Lighthouse. After it was replaced by fully automated light, the lighthouse was moved to Wairoa. Today it is still lit at in the evenings. The light is part of an effort to make the town more touristy. This small town with only one business street and a couple of restaurants has also renovated its movie theater and built a nice 3.5 kilometer walk/cycle trail along the river and the bay. It seems like a nice little town, clean and neat. Our hotel host was friendly and helpful offering a number of suggestions of things to do and recommending one of the restaurants for breakfast and telling us about the movie theater. It seems like it should be a good alternative to the larger Gisborne to the south and a place to stay for visits to the Lake Waikaremoana nature reserve a few miles inland.