Day 36 - Drive from Whakatane to Gisborne

In the morning, in Whakatane, we visit Muriwai's Cave (Māori: Te Ana o Muriwai), a historically significant cave. Since it's raining heavily again, we continue our journey. We briefly stop at Ōhope Beach and take a look at the beach. The waves are intense and it's raining even harder. We continue on to the Tauwhare Pā Scenic Reserve, but decide to keep driving as it's still raining heavily. We drive along a coastal road and repeatedly notice that there have been landslides. Our road is impassable at one point due to the amount of debris that has fallen down from the rain. We stop at a small rest area and discover a large river fed by a waterfall from the mountain. Slowly, the rain weakens and we come across the Otoko Walkway and decide to go for a short hike. Finally, the weather clears up and the rain stops. We walk past pastures filled with sheep and cows and can finally put away our rain jackets as it gets warm.

The next stop is at Gray's Bush Scenic Reserve. The landscape here has completely changed, instead of lush meadows and hills, there are many ferns, palms, and giant trees. Finally, we continue towards Gisborne. Just outside the city, we have a simple accommodation by the ocean. It's like a garden cabin with electricity and a beautiful terrace overlooking the sea. Luckily, it's no longer raining and we can take a nice walk along Tatapouri Bay.