The East Cape

Now that we had trodden much of the mainstream tourist route through the North Island, for our drive back down to Wellington we decided to slow down the pace and do something different.   From Auckland we made our way east along the Bay of Plenty coastline, making some beach stops when it suited us.  We were headed for the East coast of the North isle, which is far from the ever constant frenzy of tourism flowing through the world famous this and thats.  It's a place where you can craft your own adventure - like in the New Zealand of yore.  Shielded from the rain by the central mountains, the climate is dryer and sunnier than the rest of the isle, and the whole area seems to exude a sense of carefree freedom…or maybe that was just me.  Anyhow, enough with the rah rah, now on with our story!

Our first stop in the area was the dynamic duo known as the Rere Falls and Rere Rockslide.  One is pure beauty, the other pure fun.  After a particularly long drive to the middle of nowhere along a dirt road (as begin many a New Zealand adventure), we came to the falls.  Rere Falls is wider than it is tall and it drapes itself from the lip like a theatre curtain waiting to be pulled.  It is quite the sight, despite visiting at low water levels on a grey day.  After we'd satisfied ourselves gawking we backtracked a bit to the Rere Rockslide that we missed the first time.  I'm so glad that we were able to find this place, as it has to be one of the coolest things I've ever seen.  It's just what it sounds like, a wide, pitched rock water slide on the stream.  When we showed up there were already a few locals there riding boogie boards and inner tubes down the moss covered slope.  We watched them do a few runs before giving it a go.  And go you do - the boogie boards hit a good clip before you're sent skipping across the surface of the pool below like a stone.  We have a few good videos of our runs, but you'll have to wait a little while to see them :p.  Once we'd had enough of a rush on the slide we retired back to our camp for the night.

Watch first, try later.

The next day we drove through the cool little east coast town of Gisborne.  It is the embodiment of the free spirited nature of the East Coast.  The people are friendly, chatty, and mostly shoeless.  The sky is sunny, the hills golden, the ocean a hypnotic blue hue, and the town is full of country charm.  Throw all formality and stuffiness right out the window.  This is how I'd imagine California might have been about five or six decades ago.  Once passed the town we drove up the south-eastern coast of the East Cape, an area still largely under the control and influence of the original Maori tribes.  Our destination was Anaura Bay, which is a poster child for a 100% NZ Pure advert by tourism New Zealand.  It is without a doubt a gorgeous bay, one that you get to look down upon before descending onto the beach itself.  We sunned for about an hour or two and intended on staying at the nearby DOC camp until we learned that the camp has no toilet and therefore does not allow campers without a chemical toilet.  To be completely honest, I'm glad that we ended up leaving or we would have never found out about what was to be our next destination.  That is the even more beautiful and much more interesting Tolaga Bay.

Anaura Bay from above

Tolaga Bay is known for it's 600 meter wharf, and although the wharf is great for jumping off into the water, the real highlight of the bay is the bleach white sandstone cliffs towering over the blue-green glow of the bay.  We ended up staying the night across the street from the beach just so we'd have the opportunity to explore the area more in the morning.  When we woke up we quickly got our things together to take a short hike to Cook's Cove, where Captain James Cook landed his ship so many years ago.  Once at the cove we caught a glimpse of a few islands just offshore and had the chance to more closely explore the white cliffs through a hole in the rock that lead out to the shore.  Not only has Tolaga has moved its way onto my list of the top five North Island beaches, but the East Cape/Gisborne area may have also edged out the Bay of Plenty as my favorite region.  Good times.

The wharf 

The beach 

The cliffs

The cove