040101

Got up at 0700 and had my usual muesli & coffee and then walked down to shave and brush my teeth.

Then I came back and made two CD for the folks next door who befriended me last night. They like music and I though they might enjoy the wide range of MP3 files I've got with me. They weren't up when I was ready to pull out so I just left the two CDs on the table under their tent.

On the way out of the park, I stopped and filled the van's water tank. I was astounded at how much it took. It must not have been full when I received it. The tank holds a lot.

Then, before I left Gisborne, I filled up with Diesel and checked the oil - it was down a liter (they looked baffled when I asked for a quart of oil<smile>).

Like every place I've been, I feel a sense of loss as I leave a place where I've gotten to know good people. But, once I'm on the road for 15 minutes, it's a new day and a new adventure and everything's clear.

Today was a long day. Currently, I'm in a motor camp in a small town named Pukehina. I've driven a lot of miles today. Pukehina is within 20 or 30 km of Tauranga which is about where I wanted to be tonight. This camp, like almost all of them, has friendly people. I've chatted with the group next door and when I went and walked around the camp, I also struck up a conversation with a group of guys who were obviously into surf fishing from the gear the had all around them. They were some big kidders but I was in a good place and I gave as good as I got and it was fun. They invited me back for some barbecue after awhile but I think I'll pass as I've just had a sandwich and I want to catch up on today and all of yesterday's notes while they are fresh in my mind.

After I left Gisborne, I headed north to make my way around the north east cape of the North Island. It is wild, empty and beautiful country. I took a lot of photos of many beautiful spots.


Coast just north of Gisborne	Road and Sea	People camping along the road	A very beautiful tree

Left over from New Year's Eve celebration	Place names are almost all Polynesian	Ditto	The beginning of the road to the lighthouse

Historical artifact in town of Te Araroa	Ditto	Rock shelves along the road	More

Panorama 1 of 3	Panorama 2 of 3	Panorama 3 of 3	Chunks of lave on the rock shelves

A depression in the shelf	A lava chunk shaped like a bowl (I saw several)	Lava appears to have flowed over ancient sand	I'm on the shelves looking back at the van

Close up of water plants in a depression	Tide's coming in over the shelves	Fossils in the lava covered sand?	Another shot back to the van

Something like a fossilized tree truck?	Another one	More fossil markings?	A wind sculpted bush

Cows go surfing	The road to the lighthouse gets wild

I suppose there was two notable things that happened during the drive. One was my visit to the lighthouse out on the end of the cape and the other was that at some small beach after that, I stopped and changed into my shorts and took a towel and went out and jumped into the surf just because I knew I'd like the feel of it. There's something about the feel and smell of salt water drying on my skin that calls a hundred lazy days of Southern California summer back to me after all these years.

The road to the lighthouse was mostly gravel and it was 20 km in and 20 km out. But, whew - pretty stuff. Cattle were freely roaming on the road and at once place, a large herd of them were down at the beach just hanging out doing what ever cattle do at the beach. They seemed to like it though I didn't see any more than ankle deep in the surf.


Sign by the road	As you enter the path up	The path up begins	Looking back

The sign at the top	East Island where the lighthouse was originally	Explanation signs	Ditto

And ditto	View down from the top	A short of your author	The lighthouse, itself

Shot down from the top the other way	At the bottom looking up.

The light house sits atop a hill and it was quite a climb up. I've really gotten out of shape for this sort of thing which greatly irritates me. When I went up, I have to pause every 50 steps and take 15 to 20 deep breaths to still the hammering of my heart. It was 400 to 500 steps to get up there but the view was spectacular. Soon after the lighthouse I stopped and found myself a New Zealand rock on the rock shelves. Had holes from sea animals drilled in it. Very nice.

My adventure in the surf was a pretty low energy affair. The surf on both the west and east coasts is a lot bigger than what I'm seeing now along the north coast. So there weren't waves as such. But it was fun.


Artsy photos of sea and rocks	ditto	ditto	ditto

ditto	and ditto	A lot of coastline can be seen	A cemetery with a wonderful view

Maori carvings in front of a schoolt	ditto	ditto	and ditto

It was nearly 1900 before I started to get close to Tauranga and began to look for a place to stay. Tauranga is a popular spot and it is high season so I wasn't surprised that I had to stop at four places before I found an open spot.

I called Sharon just before I tried the first one. It was 2200 at her end on New Year's Eve. He condition seems to have stabilized. I think she's really gotten the message to slow down and rest. Our friends have been wonderful coming over and looking after her and bringing here things and taking her to appointments and such. To any of you reading this who have helped her in my absence, thank you so very much!

I'm feeling a bit of nostalgia. This will be my last night in the trusty Tui Campervan. It will also be my last night in a motor park. They've both been great experiences. This van has many capabilities and features I haven't even used. The propane stove, all the cooking gear, the upper bunk, the off-road capabilities. I hope Sharon and I can come back together in a year or two and tour around in one of these together.

I'm going to go back now and write up yesterday, New Year's Eve, which I haven't touched as yet because I was up with my neighbors in the Gisborne camp waiting for midnight and having fun last night.