Day 20 - Of rises and descents

12/3/16

Today, we woke up at 4:30am, yes you heard right, at half past four. We want to see the sunrise at the lighthouse at East Cape, and the sun rises in New Zealand in December at 5:41 am... There are still a few clouds in the east, but we don't care. We pack our things and drive the 7km, which we jogged yesterday, to the car park at East Cape. It's a bit faster by car than on foot. However, we are not the only ones, as there are already 5 cars at the car park. We struggle up the 800 steps to the lighthouse with muscle soreness (Yves) and knee pain (Marco). The sun is already starting to rise, but we reach the top in 15 minutes. The sun takes a while to appear, as there are still some clouds in the sky. But we see spectacular light plays in the sea.

At 5:59 am, the sun shines directly in our faces. Target achieved.

Afterwards, we continue driving, as early as ever and without breakfast. Well, 50% of us quickly devoured some crispbread and cheese so as not to starve.

On the way, it starts to rain. During a break in the rain, we have breakfast in Tokomaru Bay. Even afterwards, we are spared from the rain and the sun becomes a constant companion.

We continue and, after a stop in Tolaga Bay (where there is a 660m long pier into the sea), we arrive in Gisborne. By the way, the pier has an interesting history, but unfortunately it hasn't been in use since 1966. The prosperity and development of the whole region has largely vanished.

There we have a lunch break with Hawaiian toast on the beach and even an ice cream.

We continue towards Napier, crossing the Wharerata Forest and its mountains. It's quite steep up and down. A piece of cake for our Jucy, if only we didn't run out of petrol. The otherwise plentiful petrol stations have somehow disappeared. But we still find one before we have to push :-) Finally, we look for our accommodation in Opoutama. After a short detour to an abandoned (and dead-end ;-) camping ground, we find a great spot on the beach.

Now we are tired after a long day and the sun has already set. So we don't have to wait long for the sandman to come and probably dream of dead ends and running out of petrol.

Addendum to the East Cape region. The whole region is very sparsely populated and you hardly see any people and cars. But there are plenty of cows, sheep and a few rabbits. Occasionally, you can see abandoned cars slowly rusting away in the countryside.

Photo of the day: Sunrise at East Cape