The East Cape

Ohope to Gisbourne

Sunday 1 November 2020

Over the years I’ve been told on many occasions that Auckland isn’t New Zealand and that [insert place name] is. Whilst the validity of that statement depends on where your coming from, Auckland is certainly different to most other places in New Zealand.

And that difference is more obvious in the East Cape of the North Island than anywhere we’ve visited so far. How so? 

Maybe it’s to do with geography. The East Cape is remote by most standards with no urban areas or towns. There are settlements dotted around the coast but these are small with only a few facilities. Certainly you have to want to come here otherwise you’d take a more direct route other than the winding SH35 that hugs the coast line. And it has to hug the coastline because there’s limited options for transportation inland. Coastal plateau soon gives way to precipitous, bush covered slopes. Only the foolhardy would chose to try and cut any routes through here.

The kilometres driven are certainly hard won. There’s very few straight bits of road and what road there is doesn’t get the attention it needs. But every corner reveals something new and so you press onwards.

The biggest surprise of the day was the church at Tikitiki. What and amazing place and a testament to the craftsmanship of its creators. I’ve never seen a church quite like it. The structure is definitely European but the extensively carved wooden interior is definitely Maori. It’s an amazing space and worthy of a (significant) detour.

Although we were pushed for time, we managed to squeeze in the walk from Tolaga Bay to Cook’s Cove where in 1769 Captain James Cook visited as part of his circumnavigation of New Zealand. The history is well known and somewhat controversial so I won’t go any further, other than to say he couldn’t have picked a more picturesque place to visit.

Unfortunately we have another 50km or so to go before we arrive in Gisborne where we’ll rest up before making the long trip tomorrow to Martinborough.