Who did the rain dance?!? The steady drizzle seems to have settled in comfortably. Well, it also gives the landscape a mystical touch, I like it.
That’s how far we go today.Packing a lot of Baby stuff for the next days, just in case there’s no supermarket.In the middle of a gusty rain storm.The curtain lifted, the air smells so … salty, clean.Arriving at Tolaga Bay. Uawa, as it was called before the arrival of Cpt Cook on the Endeavour, has been a trading port for flax and whaling since the 13th century.Tolaga Bay Wharf was opened 1929 and boosted the economy of the region. With 660 m it’s no ordinary pier, to the end and back almost counts as “walk”However, even as the Tolaga Bay wharf opened, improved roading and motor vehicles had begun to compete with coastal shipping. It was ironic that much of the cargo that passed over the wharf was road-making material, used to construct the road through to Gisborne, soon providing an alternate means of transport.Restoration is a work in progress, especially with a structure this big. Parts are fenced off and even though it doesn’t sway, we just want to return to land.If somebody knows what this is, we’d be interested :)Turning on the heel, the beach over there, that’s where we’re headed!After the Wharf, the road goes parallel to the sea, until it reaches Tolaga.Once there, we park at the charger parking … but the charger is gone!Lucky for us, it was just moved to the petrol station and we have some time to eat and sightsee.Seawalls Uawa, mural by Kell Sunshine.Strolling through a rural township.The Inn, impressive building looks like it was taken from a Harry Potter movie.Cool Tattoo studio next door.George and Mildred’s supermarket – no big windows, but post boxes. We were already wondering how it works because we failed to find any along the road.Another seawalls installation.After an hour, charging was finished and we carried on.Little town on the road.Farm life at the sea.Roadworks. After the heavy rain last month that also wrecked havock on the South Island, some hills just went moving.Horse bums straight out of the car window. That’s classic idyll.Crossing an Eastland river.Farm station, quite worn down but still going strong.Woodland views.Over the bridge.This could be Hicks Bay already. Nearly there!Beautiful, large half moon bays.Yeah! Te Araroa at last. The land over there is the easternmost point in NZ. Unfortunately the road has been washed out, but we’ll still be on of the first people to see the sun tomorrow (if she throws a shadow).Stones at Hick’s Bay. Reminds us at the first time we were here and found that big piece of banded agate. What a find!Along the river we try our luck for another gem.And actually find one! Not as banded as the other and a bit more quartz-y, but still! Haha! So lucky!
