Day Nine … taking the road less travelled

Ian described our day today as a repositioning day … where we needed to move from one side of the coast to the other, but instead of taking the traditional route from Whakatane to Napier we had decided to take the more scenic, and perhaps challenging, drive through Opotiki to Gisborne and then down to Napier. This drive was longer but the scenery was incredible. In total we drove just on 400 km (about 5 and a half hours) but we had stops along the way to explore.

Our first stop was actually in Whakatane at the Wairere Falls, which like many of the other falls we have seen were smack bang in the centre of town and stunning. I am biased - but I do love a waterfall! Then on to Ohope Wharf where we completed a quick Ad Lab that took in the restoration of the wharf and some interesting facts about the area. There was a trash and trivia market being run by the local Lions Club but we didn’t think we needed to bring home a bed, a wardrobe or an electric fan so once we completed the Ad Lab we moved on.

Ian began our drive to Eastland through the Waieoka Gorge. The 50 km long gorge hugs the river but the mountains rise up beside you all the way through. Signs warning of rock falls were spread throughout the gorge (and there was plenty of evidence of recent landslips as we travelled). We stopped at two old bridges along the way - the Tauranga Bridge and the Manganuku Bridge. Both were beautiful old wooden bridges that crossed over the river to where settlers once tried to farm the land, but sadly they failed. Whilst you cannot cross the bridges today they were definitely worth stopping at.

We arrived in Gisborne on the east coast just before lunch, and as you can expect we completed a quick Ad Lab which took us to a memorial to mark where Captain Cook first sailed in to the harbour in 1769, to the Ruatanuika Lookout to see the statue of Te Maro who was a significant Māori elder, as well as the shortest river in the Southern Hemisphere (only 1200 m long) and a statue of Captain Cook. Completing the adventure taught us lots about the area and took us on a journey through Gisborne. We grabbed some lunch and sat on the banks of the river to enjoy the break before embarking on the drive to Napier.

Ian let me take the wheel (the man loves to drive …) saying it would be the easier part of the drive! Little did we know that my section would be the ‘winding through the mountains’ kind of drive complete with a random wild deer that suddenly decided to race along in front of the car for about 600 m whilst I tried desperately not to hit it! Or the goats that had escaped their paddocks and were just wandering along the ditches beside the road. Or the road slip where a large chunk of the road was missing! An adventure to say the least but lots of laughs along the way.

The picture below is State Highway 2! 

We passed under a railway viaduct but couldn’t pull over to see it more closely because there was no pull off spot available and at this point I had about 10 cars behind me as I was stuck behind a B-Double truck loaded with some stock animals based on the smell! Ian was able to snap a couple of photos quickly as we pressed on.

On our drive today we saw such wildly different scenery. From waterfalls; to oceans and inlets; a steep, rocky gorge; crystal blue rushing streams; rolling green hills and peaks dotted with sheep and cows; farms growing grapes, nectarines and asparagus; and pine forests in various stages of growth from planting through to cutting down. So much to see and take in. 

Switching drivers just out of Napier Ian drove us in to city. I was surprised at how large it was and how incredibly hilly it was. Napier has been on my bucket list for years because of all of the Art Deco buildings that were built following the 1931 earthquake that razed much of the township. After a quick stop at the Art Deco Trust so we could purchase the Art Deco Trail guide (and for me to drool at the amazing jewellery, glassware, statues and candles on sale in the gift shop) we headed to our accomodation to check in and dump our luggage. We are staying at The Crown Hotel which was built on 1932 and we opted for one of the Heritage Suites rather than the contemporary hotel rooms. Ian is indulging me in my Art Deco wanderlust.

We headed out again to begin an Ad Lab … sadly we had to abandon it as one of the clues is missing (I’ll be contacting the setter after I write this blog to see if I can find out what the answer was so we can finish it tomorrow). We then began part of the Art Deco trail looking at the beautiful buildings and reading all about them with our guide book. We walked to the ‘beach’, a shingle beach of small black pebbles. We then went for a drive through the back streets … where people live and were stunned at the steep driveways, the difference in the houses and areas. We stopped at the Bluff Lookout … and saw all the timber on the docks ready to be loaded on to the tankers to sail off to wherever, clearly a major export for NZ.

Dinner … then back to our hotel so I can blog and then time to rest 😜