East Cape Escapades

On outskirts of Gisborne

On Tuesday 1st October I left Gisborne along State Highway 35. The previous day I had been interviewed for an article in the Gisborne Herald. Before leaving on Tuesday I met Paul, their photographer, who took shots of me leaving Gisborne over the main river bridge. The article appeared in that afternoons edition. Of all the papers I have been in this was to prove to be the most helpful. Every second person I met over the next week had read the article and this resulted in offers of accommodation, my pack being taken on for me and other kindnesses.

The first 3.5km was along the main road. Once at Wainui I was on the beach and nice hard sand for the next 3.5 km. There is a nice gravel path up and over the headland to Makorori and another beach for 2km. Another 2km on the main road brought me to Tatpouri. I was told about a backpackers and although it was closed and usually only took bus parties I was allowed to stay. I'd walked just 13km that day and had a 21 bed backpackers all to myself.

Wainui Beach North of Gisborne

Wednesday was a fine hot day and I was soon down to wearing shirt and shorts. The first 5km was mostly along the beach. The next 18km were all alongside SH35 and I counted over 200 logging trucks between 7.50am and 2pm. Apart from being buzzed by magpies on two different occasions, nothing of note happened.

About 2pm a car stopped a long way past me,  and on catching up to them I was offererd a bed for the night at Anaura Bay. As the car was already full I would have to get myself there. At that stage I was only vaguely aware of where Anaura Bay is but gratefully accepted the offer. One of two Canadian WWOOF's in the car had just read about me in the paper and this prompted their host Judy, to stop and offer me a bed. More about this remarkable lady later.

I stuck my thumb out to the next car that came along and was given a ride to Tolaga Bay. Jackie the driver, who originally came from Anaura Bay (and had also read about me in the paper) then drove me 18km out of her way to Judy's place.

Judy, her 3 grandchildren and the 2 WWOOF's all made me welcome and on Thursday morning Judy drove me back to the main road where I hitched a lift back to where I'd been picked up from the previous day. I walked 13km into Tolaga Bay,with another 4km side trip to visit and walk along the Tolaga Bay Wharf.  While on the 600m wharf I was once again recognized from the newspaper article and later also in one of the shops. Finally walked 14km from Tolaga Bay to the Anaura Bay turnoff where I was able to hitch a ride back to Judy's place.
At 33km this was one of my bigger distances but made easier by not having my 26kg pack to carry.

Tolaga Bay Wharf

I had a day off from walking on Friday and spent the day weeding the path from the house to the beach. During the three nights I spent at Judy's place I got to know a little of her life. Aged 74 and suffering from Lymphoma, she had arrived back in NZ, from a 6 weeks European trip, the night before she picked me up. She spent that first night in Gisborne before collecting her three grandsons and the two WWOOFers and heading home. Already with a house full she then offered to put me up as well. On arriving home she found that someone had left her freezer door open and all her meat and berries had to be discarded and buried. The water intake from the local stream had blocked, the washing machine not working and the pantry over run with ants!! She took all this in her stride and would have to be one of the most resilient people I've met.

Judy and grandsons

Anaura Bay one of my favorite spots

I was off again on Saturday morning and Judy once again ran me to the main road for a 23km walk to Tokomaru Bay. Only 3km up the road I spoke to Joe who was up a ladder fixing the power supply to a house. He offered me a lift but agreed to take just my pack, which he left at the Tokomaru Bay Motor camp. Apart from speaking to a couple of Stop/Go men at roadworks it was a fairly ordinary road walk. On uplifting my pack I booked into a cabin at the Motor Camp. The cabin was clean and tidy but the rest of the camp is a dump!!

That night I received a phone call from a local who wanted to meet me. Jill had relocated an old schoolhouse to just outside Tokomaru Bay in the 1980's. The only road into it is over a long steep hill and it's easier to walk across a river and walk into town. So in the dark Jill forded the river and walked the 1.5km to meet me. She later took me to visit her friend Woody who had been looking after a Backpackers. That day new owners had taken over and given Woody instructions that, if I turned up, to give me free accommodation.

The next day I met the new owners Angus and Leeann who had renamed the backpackers "Lost In Paradise". I spent two nights there, the view is fabulous and in contrast to the Motor Camp everything  is spotless and organized. As it turned out we had met before, quite some months ago when we were all staying at the Waimarama Motor Camp.

Sunday was another day of walking on roads, firstly 12km up SH35 to Te Puia Springs then 6km by a back road to Waipiro Bay. I found a wallet lying in the grass alongside the road, it had no money in it but a number of credit cards etc. I assumed that it had been stolen, the money removed and discarded. I left it on a wall alongside the next mail box. I had lunch at Waipiro Bay then took another back road 8km back to SH35. Once there I texted Woody who came and collected me and took me back to "Paradise".

That morning, on the way out of town, I had visited Jill in her old schoolhouse. After fording the river I found her place and had a cuppa with her. A friend of hers is building a 70 tonne boat on her property. Initially he thought it would take him 3 years to build. The good news is that he expects to launch it next year .......... 25years later!!

It has taken 25 years to build this boat

I had a lazy day at "Lost In Paradise" on Monday and hitched a ride on Tuesday to where I'd left off on Sunday. I was picked up by Karen. a local teacher, who took me 12km out of her way. I headed up SH35 towards Ruatoria.  Karen had told me about a backpackers at Ruatoria which I had not heard of.  After 7km I was offered a ride by Judy, another teacher. As she was going into Ruatoria and then coming back the same way she agreed to drive me to the backpackers so that I could drop off my pack and then bring me back. The backpackers turned out to be an expensive Guesthouse. Once I'd picked myself up off the floor after being told the tariff I asked if I could pitch my tent. That was not possible but Leigh had read about me and gave me a room at half price " because of what your doing". Judy then took me back to where she had picked me up from. When I said I was surprised by the number of women who pick me up she told me that she had "prayed to god that you are a nice person"!

KFC on the coast!

That night, after walking the remaining 7km to the guesthouse, Leigh helped me to contact a local landowner to get permission to cross his land two days later.

Wednesday entailed walking 21km, once again alongside SH35, to Tikitiki. There being no accommodation there and it looked like being a wet night I hitched a ride to Te Araroa where I stayed at a backpackers in an old nunnery.

It took exactly 2 hours to hitch a ride back to Tikitiki on Thursday morning. Ian is the local painter and as he drove he told me interesting facts and stories. A few years ago he arranged to pick up the local District Nurse after she had run form Te Araroa to East Cape a distance of 20km. On Ian's arrival at East Cape there was no sign of the nurse. A police search ensued and next day her body was found in the sea. She had a broken neck. They think she tried to climb a bluff and slipped.

A backroad from Tikitiki led me to Rangitukia, a small settlement. A car passed me with the tailgate down and a teenager sitting on it. As it went past she yelled "Go brother you're walking the world" Then turning to those inside the car "he's the one walking New Zealand". Two people stopped to offer rides which was ironic since it had taken 2 hours to get a lift when I wanted one and now I was being offered them when I didn't ! Further up the road in the middle of nowhere I was greeted by a young and friendly goat who followed me 3 km s up the road and another 2 down a farm track. I finally managed to loose "George" when I went through a gateway and he couldn't get through. I could still hear his plaintive bleating several hundred metres up the track. After traveling with me so far I thought perhaps I should have given him one of my cards, with this blog address on it. But who knows how long before he could get to a computer and by then he would have probably eaten the card!

The farm track took me 5km across Haha Station to the beach. I only hope George found something to laugh about! Once on the beach I surprised a herd of cattle who took off running up the beach in the surf. After 4km of beach I crossed a paddock to reach the end of East Cape Road and the track to the lighthouse. I didn't need to count the steps as Ian had already told me there are 776. I surprised myself by walking to the top without stopping (I had hidden my pack at the bottom behind a building) . It had started to rain as I left the beach so it was a quick visit to the lighthouse and back down again. A further 4km of road walking took me to what is advertised as the East Cape Camping Ground. This is a serious misrepresentation as the campground consists of two derelict buildings, no running water, the grass not mown and the only amenity a long drop toilet. There is an honesty box here, with a charge of just $6. I thought about the lack of honesty in their advertising and for the first time did not pay. I thought $6 was a bit steep to use a longdrop!

Beef on the reef!

As it was getting late due to my 2 hour wait for a ride I had no choice but to stay there. I was therefore quite surprised that there were 4 vehicles with a total of 9 tourists also there. We lit a fire from driftwood and swapped stories. That night was the worst of my walk so far. Wind and rain continued on and off all night and one of my tent pegs came out causing the tent fly to blow back over the tent and for the first time I got water in the tent. My bag of clothes and my sleeping bag all got wet.

Next morning I trudged the 16km in the rain back to Te Araroa and the backpackers, had a shower, put on what dry clothes I had and rested the rest of the day.

Yesterday marked  a month since I had restarted walking and I set off early to try to get to Hamilton for a weeks rest. As there is no public transport from Te Araroa I left there at 6.45am and started hitchhiking. Three rides got me the 220km to Whakatane by 12 noon, in plenty of time to catch the 2pm bus to Hamilton. Unfortunately there was no 2pm bus and no more for the rest of the day. Two more rides got me to Tauranga by 2.15pm in plenty of time to catch the 3pm Hamilton bus.

So here I am for the next week, resting and eating and reflecting on all the wonderful, friendly people I have met so far on the East Coast. Im sure the Gisborne Herald article helped as it brought what I am doing to peoples attention. Fundamentally though I have discovered that there is an underlying generosity of spirit and friendliness that is more abundant amongst "coasters" than anywhere else I've walked so far.

In the last month I've walked 365km
Total North Island = 929km
Total both islands = 2665km