Walks and parties

We have been busy over the last couple of weeks. First up there was a walk along a newly upgraded portion of the Johnsonville branch line. The track had been closed for a few weeks while they lowered the track in the tunnels and extended some platforms and crossing loops in preparation for the arrival of new trains. Prior to reopening the line people were given the rare opportunity to walk part of the line, including two tunnels.

Sam celebrated his 22nd birthday before heading back to Auckland
and our friend Jillybones from Brighton in England visited us.

Wainuiomata is a settlement over the hills from the Hutt Valley nestling between the Rimutaka and Orongorongo ranges. One of Wellington’s main water catchments is on the eastern side and there are some good walks in the area.

We did the Gums Loop and Tana Umaga tracks. (Tana is a local boy and famous rugby player and former All Black captain).
The water treatment facility and main catchment is off limits to casual walkers but we got a distant view of it.

This is the group that did the walk – thanks to Leon for the jiggery-pokery involved in merging two shots. Can you spot the join?

Down the East Coast

This is the last post on our recent holiday. The road heads south from Te Araroa and rejoins the coast at Tikitiki where there is an interesting Maori church. It was built as a memorial after the first world war and was promoted by Apirana Ngata, a local leader who became nationally important and was probably the most influential Maori of his generation.

This is a traffic jam, East Coast style!

The first of the really big bays is Tokomaru Bay

and the next Tolaga Bay where we stayed the night in the Inn.

The next morning we walked to Cooks Cove. The first part of the track leads up the headland at the southern end of the bay. Here is the view looking back to the settlement of Tolaga Bay and the mouth of the Uawa River.

This shot looks across the bay and back up the coast towards Tokomaru.

There is some nice regenerating bush on the walk including this splendid cabbage tree.

Cooks Cove viewed from the lookout high on the track. Cook anchored the Endeavour here in October 1769 and stocked up on firewood, water and other supplies.

Leaving Tolaga Bay we drove to Gisborne the only city on the East Coast. This was the place where Cook first landed in New Zealand. Here is a close up of the statue to Young Nick

and the view from Kaiti Hill. If you look closely you can see the statue at the end of the walkway by the trees in the middle right of the picture.

This is the view of Young Nick's Head from the hill.

Our last night was spent at a comfortable little cottage in Mahanga on the Mahia Peninsula.

We swam at Mahia itself and saw the resident dolphin Moko.

To East Cape

Leaving the Coromandel we travelled through the Bay of Plenty. This was named by Cook as he had more luck getting provisions than at Poverty Bay where he first landed. Nowadays it is kiwifruit country. At a tourist attraction called Kiwi 360 you can learn all you ever wanted to know about the fruit, buy various products made from it and climb up the giant kiwifruit.
The East Coast proper starts beyond Opotiki and the road follows the coastline for most of the way past rocky beaches and headlands. This is Whitianga Bay (not the one in the Coromandel)

and this Te Kaha.

Onepoto Bay

and Hicks Bay.

We left the main road at Te Araroa

and continued along a partly unsealed road to East Cape where pohutukawa trees are the main vegetation..

This is East Island (Whangaokeno) the original site of the lighthouse

which was relocated to East Cape in 1922. We didn't have enough to complete the lighthouse hugging but I'm sure it appreciated the effort!

We took lunch under some trees on the way back to Te Araroa

and ran on the beach.

This is reputedly the oldest and largest pohutukawa tree in the world. It is called Te Waha O Rerekohu and may be 600 years old.

It was a hot day so we decided to indulge in enormous ice creams.

This notice tickled my fancy! Horses are still a common form of transport around the East Coast. We saw a couple of young girls riding bare back and texting while they travelled.

Hahei and Hot Water Beach

Hahei is a small beach side settlement about half way down on the east side of the Coromandel peninsula. It has a wide sandy beach which we found a great place to swim. There were even dolphins one morning.

The promontory at the southern end of the beach is Te Pare historic reserve which contains the site of Hereheretaura pa, the stronghold of Hei who founded the Ngati Hei tribe.
Looking south from the pa site to dramatic cliff scenery.

Six kilometres south of Hahei is Hot Water Beach.
The hot water (about 80 degrees so not to be underestimated) comes from geothermal activity deep underground. There is only a small area where the water is within reach of the surface which can be accessed about two hours either side of low tide.

Here are instructions on building your own spa pool.
Step one – the engineer designs the extent of the pool.

Step two – management checks the design and modifies it.

Step three – labourers do the grunt work. (Note the old fellow resting on his shovel.)

Step four – acceptance stage, it is important to mix cold water from the sea to obtain an acceptable temperature.

Here is a general shot of all the other hot pool constructors – it’s a bizarre sight from afar as there is this vast open beach, deserted except for a hive of industry around the active area.

Further south again is the town of Tairua. This shot is from across the river mouth at Pauanui. The big hill is Paku

and this the view from the top of Paku looking back on Pauanui.
A kind tourist took this shot of the four of us (we were staring straight into the setting sun so please forgive the squinting)
while Noreen did her impression of the Christ at Corcovado.
People were coming and going after the week at Hahei. The second week there was just Noreen, Janie, Denise and me. We spent the first night at Miranda on the Firth of Thames. There are hot pools there. I was joking about being with three witches and this photo proves, by their floating, that they are all of the occult.