#east coast week 14 / 15

31st December 2016

At nine o'clock in the evening, we set off for Tauranga the day before. Tired and exhausted, we spent the night in a small town between Auckland and Tauranga. Fit and refreshed, we started the day with peanut butter toasts. Then we were off. On the way to Tauranga, we reached the Owharoa Falls. A waterfall? We can't miss that, of course. And indeed, the waterfall was just like in a picture book. <3 Finally arrived in Tauranga, we were hungry. We strolled through the streets and discovered very inviting clothing stores. 'Well, a little detour can't hurt,' we thought. Equipped with 'Sale-Summer-clothes', we left the shop satisfied. We decided to drive to the shopping center. We hopped in the car and headed to Bayfair. There we treated ourselves to sandwiches and avocado maki. Yummy, it was delicious and much needed as we were quite hungry. Strengthened, we headed to Pak n'Save where we checked out beers and wine for New Year's Eve. After that, we wanted to search for a campsite. No way. No vacancy. Every single campsite we tried was fully booked. It was a bad joke. Desperately, we turned into a bay and found a hidden spot behind trees. It was breathtaking here. We somehow wanted to spend the night here without having to pay a fine. I wasn't comfortable with the situation, but there seemed to be no other option. The original plan was to have a beach party at Mount Maunganui. Now we ended up somewhere in Papamoa in a lonely bay. It was different from what we had imagined, but we had no choice. We cooked porridge with our cool gas cooker. We chatted about everything and anything. Suddenly it occurred to me that we still had the Bacardi bottle from Christmas. We chilled in the grass and enjoyed our Bacardis. Every time we heard the police siren, we flinched. At midnight, we took out our picnic blanket from the car and walked to the beach. We lay down on the picnic blanket and watched the clear, dreamy starry sky. We reviewed the past year in our minds. Many beautiful but also sad moments came to mind. But I was determined that it was the right decision to be here in New Zealand. The feeling of freedom captivated me and I felt comfortable here. At 0:00, Bibi and I shrieked and jumped, skipped, and danced along the beach. An old year full of emotions was over, a new year lay ahead of us. Happily, we looked forward to the year 2017 and fell tired into our beds.

1st January 2017

Fresh and lively, we jumped into our bikinis in the morning and happily jumped into the sea, where we jumped against the waves. Refreshed by our New Year's swim, we had a cozy breakfast and then set off for Whakatane. There we walked through the city and visited some of the city's sights, such as the Muriwai Cave, which didn't impress us much. What fascinated us more was the statue standing on a hill in the sea. "The Lady on the rock." The statue depicted the daughter of the Maori captain "Toroa," who brought the Maori canoe to safety when it broke. Hungry from our walk, we headed to Pizza Hut and treated ourselves to a $5 pizza. Then we set off for Ohope. On the way, we made a stop at the breathtaking Wairere Falls. We also found the Kohi Point, described in my travel guide. Of course, we had to take a look at it. We turned into a narrow road that led up a mountain. 'Oh no, not another dirt road,' Bibi grumbled. When we reached the top of the mountain, we were amazed. What a fantastic view over Whakatane and the breathtaking glittering sea. The way to Ohope was not far. There we wanted to find a campsite. Our app, Campermate, led us to a holiday park. 'Oh no, not a holiday park, please,' I complained. I made every effort to find a cheaper campsite. And indeed, I found a smaller, more comfortable one. So we turned around and on the way back, we grabbed a local watermelon. The campsite owner welcomed us with open arms. Only one spot was still available, and I had to show off my parking skills between tents. Parking was a disaster, especially with tent hooks on both sides. When the campground owner came over and asked if I needed help, I wanted to sink into the ground. Fortunately, I managed to park somehow, phew. Bibi and I immediately jumped into the shower. Finally, a shower, and even warm :). At that moment, nothing could have been better for us. Bibi fell into bed like a piece of wood. I enjoyed a piece of the local watermelon and then hopped into bed as well.

2nd January 2017

The next day, we had breakfast in the camp kitchen, which was huge by the way. There was even a ping pong table. Bibi and I played a short match and asked the campground owner for recommendations on what to do. He suggested hiking to Shelly Beach. Alright. We followed his suggestion and embarked on a small path along the coast, up a rock, through the idyllic forest, and down on the other side. And suddenly we saw 'it', Shelly Beach. A lonely little beach covered with various colorful seashells and shell sand. We buried our feet in the sand and played with the shells in our hands. We watched the high waves and followed them until they slowly rolled out. We strolled along the coast through the coarse shell sand. We hopped from stone to stone, climbed small rock formations to reach the mentioned Kohi Point. The waves splashed against the rocks, and if you weren't careful, a wave could catch you. Bibi and I got caught more than once. We were completely soaked. But who cared when you could enjoy such amazing views. :) We reached wooden stairs and hiked up. Unfortunately, it started to drizzle, so we decided to turn back halfway. On the way back, we spontaneously decided to jump into the sea. The strong current pulled us towards the sea, and it seemed too dangerous to go swimming. Back at the car, we took off our wet shoes and socks and watched the surfers riding the waves. We wanted to try that someday too. When the time is right :) We made our way to Opotiki, where we checked for a coffee and a full tank. Oh, and toast bread, as my clever travel guide urgently recommended taking enough food for the next few days and preferably topping up the tank. We spent the night at a self-contained campground in Te Kaha. We were not self-contained, but we weren't concerned about the police showing up in the middle of the night in this place. So we risked staying there. 'No risk, no fun' was our motto.

3rd January 2017

The next morning, I couldn't sleep anymore from 6 o'clock. Bibi tossed and turned in the van, and it seemed like she wouldn't wake up anytime soon. So I started the car and drove with Bibi, who continued to sleep peacefully, along the East Coast. I made frequent stops to take some pictures of the beautiful surroundings and nature. Finally, after two hours of driving, I arrived at Hicks Bay when I heard Bibi say, 'can we stop for a moment, I need to use the bathroom.' We also got ourselves a hot coffee and continued cruising to the East Cape. A narrow road promised us the East Cape. It drizzled the whole time, which didn't make driving any easier. Soon, a gravel road followed. 'Oh my goodness, where are we driving to,' I joked and couldn't believe it. After a good half an hour, we saw the lighthouse from a distance. Since it was drizzling, we decided to wait and hike up later. We lay down in our van for a short nap. Suddenly I was woken up from my power nap. I had a mega nightmare and at the same time, it came to my mind that I had forgotten my Salomon hiking shoes at the campsite in Te Kaha. 'No, I surely just dreamed that,' I reassured myself. Unfortunately, I didn't dream. It was the plain reality. Out of panic, tears welled up in my eyes. I had to go back. As fast as possible. I ordered Bibi to immediately sit in the passenger seat. 'We're going back to Te Kaha now,' I shouted. On the way back, I explained to Bibi what had happened. She reassured me by giving me encouragement. Arriving there, I had to unfortunately realize that my shoes were no longer there. I already knew it on the inside when we drove back. Well, that was it for my Salomon shoes. We sighed and treated ourselves to a delicious honey macadamia ice cream at a hidden ice cream parlor promised by our Lonely Planet travel guide. At the East Cape, we had a snack and then jumped into our beds.

4th January 2017

At half past four in the morning, our alarm clock was already ringing. We wanted to enjoy the sunrise from the lighthouse. With headlamps and cameras, we climbed the 750 wooden steps up to the lighthouse on a small mountain. We eagerly waited for the beautiful sunrise. And there it was. The sky slowly became brighter and brighter. It shone in shades of yellow, orange, and red. Wow. What a fantastic view. We were overwhelmed. Even when going down the stairs, the morning landscape impressed us. We had breakfast somewhere on a remote dirt road with baked beans, scrambled eggs, and toast. On the way to Gisborne, we also stopped at St. Mary's Church, which had woven panels of flax on the walls, geometrically patterned colorful stained glass windows, painted wooden beams, and great Maori carvings. A visit to Waipiro Bay was, of course, also on our itinerary. On our way to Gisborne, we stopped in Tolaga, treated ourselves to a coffee, and walked along the wonderful 1929 historic pier, the longest of its kind in the southern hemisphere, with a length of 660 meters. I even managed to convince Bibi to go for a hike. We hiked the Cook's Cove Walkway through fields and bushland to another bay where James Cook once landed. The amazing views that were offered to us were once again incredible. We were overwhelmed. We made a short break somewhere on the side of the road and cooked potatoes, which we devoured hungrily. Arriving in Gisborne, we found a $15 campground. 'The Pirate Ship'. I immediately asked at reception. A lady answered amused, 'We don't have a reception.' Oh my, where had we landed? You could only pay in cash. Of course, we didn't have cash in our pockets. But the owner of the peculiar campground didn't mind. He didn't even want to see an ID. It was all a bit wild there. Everyone was somehow on drugs and intoxicated. Everything was 'whatever'. The kitchen looked like it hadn't seen a bit of cleanliness in weeks. Bibi and I just looked at each other and couldn't believe where we had ended up. Only beer could help now. It was unbearable to be sober here. After the beers, we peacefully fell asleep.

5th January 2017

In the morning, we made ourselves some peanut butter sandwiches and continued on to Gizzy (Napier). We stopped only for a quick bathroom and coffee break. Bibi's best friend was apparently coming to Napier that day and we still had a long to-do list. We did the laundry, then treated ourselves to delicious sushi, and picked up our belated Christmas gifts from our families at our Work n' Holiday office. I also had to top up my phone card. Then we checked into our hostel. We wanted to allow Sabsi, Bibi's best friend, a nice shower and some rest after such a long flight. We washed our beautiful campervan and cleaned our baby thoroughly. In the evening, a friend picked me up, whom I met at the Kiwi International Hotel during my time there. We went out for a bite to eat, and he showed me a fun game. It's called Data Hunting. "Oh, how cool." It's like Pokémon Go. You drive around in a car and collect data using GPS. I was completely thrilled. He was so kind and collected data for Bibi too. I collected data for myself. I was so happy. Suddenly I had 5 gigabytes of data . I said goodbye to Saurabh and went to bed. While I was hunting data, Bibi picked up Sabsi from the airport. They arrived around 2 am and chatted for quite a while. Finally, they were reunited. 