NZ: East Cape

I spent Saturday through Tuesday morning in the East Cape on the North Island, which has the highest concentration of Maori in the country and is one of the least visited regions. The Maori were the original New Zealand settlers before the Europeans. They have their own creation myths, many of which give New Zealand its name places and cultural stories, but it is thought that their ancestors came from Polynesia around 1200-1300 AD.

The East Cape portion of my Stray pass is subcontracted to an independent company, in part because of the Maori culture and then need to have a local guide to set up the arrangements. Our driver, Jason, was raised in Gisborne, travelled around a bit to Australia and went to school in Auckland, but now is back in the region sharing his part of the country with small groups of travellers . His van only holds twelve people, including himself, and on our trip, there were only six passengers. I knew two of them from my previous leg, and I quickly got to know the others as we shared our time in the van, doing activities, and making meals together.

Over the course of the weekend, we drove Highway 35 all the way around the East Cape, starting on the North in Whakatane*, spending the night in Maraehako Bay, and then in Gisborne, before going back to Rotorua to meet up with the main Stray bus going south to Taupo. All our accommodation was in waterfront hostels, with beautiful views of the ocean and sounds of the waves crashing to lull us to sleep.


Some of the highlights were jumping off the end of the longest concrete wharf in the southern hemisphere (660m) in Tolaga Bay, seeing the mountaintop where the sunlight first hits on the new day across the international dateline, taking ocean dips along the way to cool off and cooking BBQs together in the evenings.

This was the wharf I walked to the end of and jumped off! More pics on Smugmug soon.


I was also able to meet up in Gisborne with Dean and Jean who raised my good friend John for much of his childhood in New Zealand. They were so warm and welcoming, told me lots of stories about how John used to get in trouble, and they sent me off with an armload of food, including leftovers from dinner to make a few more meals, and things like butter, jam, and a loaf of bread. They wouldn’t take no for an answer and were even disappointed that I wasn’t staying longer in Gisborne so I could have stayed with them and used their younger son’s car!

Tuesday was a travel day back to Rotorua and then down to Taupo, where I am staying in a lakefront hostel (with a lake view from my room/bed) for the next three days. I don’t have any ambitious plans, except enjoying sleeping in, maybe hiring a bike to ride around part of the lake (Lake Taupo is big enough to fit Singapore inside of it), and doing online travel administration. Next stop: Hawke’s Bay Wine Festival this weekend in Napier!

*I have been learning how to pronounce some of the Maori words, and one of the most bizarre letter combinations is that “wh” makes an “f” sound, so many of the place names can sound quite rude! The “e” on the end of Whakatane is like a French or Spanish e, sounding more like an “eh” or long “a’.