Day 4 Ohope Beach to Hicks Bay Wed Jun 25
The overnight forecast had been very bad, and there was snow on the Desert Road (going south after Taupo) which meant it was closed, but in Ohope the day dawned bright and clear but with a cold wind. Brian said grace before breakfast and then Pat insisted on saying a prayer for me before I went on my travels. I didn’t mind but I guess some people would. East Cape is the least visited part of NZ, and very Maori, extremely beautiful (of course). My drive today was up SH35 round the west coast, a series of little coves, mostly with blue-black volcanic sand, but some sandy ones. Very few villages, hamlets really. In fact there are no towns at all in the whole of East Cape, so I made sure to fill up with petrol in Opotiki. Hardly any cars at all, just a few trucks and lots of roadworks. Landslides and washouts (where the road has disappeared) are very common in NZ, a lot of the roads do go through narrow valleys on hill/mountain sides. I stopped at a new hotel in Te Kaha hoping to get lunch, Pat & Brian had mentioned it, but it wasn’t open for business. They told me the builder had gone bust, but later on the motel manager in Hicks Bay told me the owner had sold the hotel rooms on a timeshare basis, but hadn’t realised that no-one would come in the winter, so he had gone bust. Fortunately the local cafe next to the postshop in the village was open (the only 2 commercial premises in the place) so I was able to get lunch there. The local Maori pensioners were on a minibus outing, in fact I was the only pakeha in the place. I didn’t feel unwelcome though. Later on I saw lots of notices on land beside the sea saying ‘Private No Trespassing’ etc. Apparently Maori believe they own the foreshore, and so, although it is probably illegal, they prevent people camping in this part of NZ, or even walking on the beach. I don’t think anyone would argue with them, as you’ve probably seen from the rugby, most of the men are huge!
Hicks Bay motel didn’t look very open at 3 when I got there, so I drove on to Te Araroa which on the map looked like a reasonable size place. It did have a few shops, mostly closed in winter, and was being dug up, obviously winter is a good time to do all these things, serves me right for going at this time! I did go into the local dairy (corner-shop) to get a paper and asked if there was anywhere I could get a coffee. She said over the road, but it didn’t open till 4, so I sat & looked at the waves crashing in for a bit & then went back to the motel. I checked in and discovered that breakfast was between 6:30-8, because of the ‘construction workers’. Of course the motel keeps open in winter by putting up all the workers whom I’d seen on the roads coming up! Consequently dinner that night and breakfast were HUGE meals. My room was very nice, had a heater and a tele, only got 2 channels though, but at least I could catch up with the news and feel warm at night! It was very windy overnight but another blue sunny day dawned for the next leg of my expedition (it felt a bit like that, all alone in the wilderness!).
The overnight forecast had been very bad, and there was snow on the Desert Road (going south after Taupo) which meant it was closed, but in Ohope the day dawned bright and clear but with a cold wind. Brian said grace before breakfast and then Pat insisted on saying a prayer for me before I went on my travels. I didn’t mind but I guess some people would. East Cape is the least visited part of NZ, and very Maori, extremely beautiful (of course). My drive today was up SH35 round the west coast, a series of little coves, mostly with blue-black volcanic sand, but some sandy ones. Very few villages, hamlets really. In fact there are no towns at all in the whole of East Cape, so I made sure to fill up with petrol in Opotiki. Hardly any cars at all, just a few trucks and lots of roadworks. Landslides and washouts (where the road has disappeared) are very common in NZ, a lot of the roads do go through narrow valleys on hill/mountain sides. I stopped at a new hotel in Te Kaha hoping to get lunch, Pat & Brian had mentioned it, but it wasn’t open for business. They told me the builder had gone bust, but later on the motel manager in Hicks Bay told me the owner had sold the hotel rooms on a timeshare basis, but hadn’t realised that no-one would come in the winter, so he had gone bust. Fortunately the local cafe next to the postshop in the village was open (the only 2 commercial premises in the place) so I was able to get lunch there. The local Maori pensioners were on a minibus outing, in fact I was the only pakeha in the place. I didn’t feel unwelcome though. Later on I saw lots of notices on land beside the sea saying ‘Private No Trespassing’ etc. Apparently Maori believe they own the foreshore, and so, although it is probably illegal, they prevent people camping in this part of NZ, or even walking on the beach. I don’t think anyone would argue with them, as you’ve probably seen from the rugby, most of the men are huge!
Hicks Bay motel didn’t look very open at 3 when I got there, so I drove on to Te Araroa which on the map looked like a reasonable size place. It did have a few shops, mostly closed in winter, and was being dug up, obviously winter is a good time to do all these things, serves me right for going at this time! I did go into the local dairy (corner-shop) to get a paper and asked if there was anywhere I could get a coffee. She said over the road, but it didn’t open till 4, so I sat & looked at the waves crashing in for a bit & then went back to the motel. I checked in and discovered that breakfast was between 6:30-8, because of the ‘construction workers’. Of course the motel keeps open in winter by putting up all the workers whom I’d seen on the roads coming up! Consequently dinner that night and breakfast were HUGE meals. My room was very nice, had a heater and a tele, only got 2 channels though, but at least I could catch up with the news and feel warm at night! It was very windy overnight but another blue sunny day dawned for the next leg of my expedition (it felt a bit like that, all alone in the wilderness!).
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