We clearly slept in this morning (having had an unsettled night) as we were woken by a knock on the door – Tour Leader aka Graham Hawkes called a meeting in his van in 15 minutes time. There was a mad scramble to get dressed and get some chores done, but we made it to the meeting on time.
The problem was that our destination camp at the end of today was not able to take us now because of the rain we had experienced overnight. There was some discussion about alternatives, but we decided to shorten today’s leg and finish at Maraetai Beach, just on the other side of Te Kaha – probably a distance of around 50 odd kms. We were to meet there at about 1.30pm to make sure we were early enough to get a spot!
We left our hillside retreat in dribs and drabs, with us being about the middle of the pack and off we went. Our first stop was the Torere School Whakairo carved gateway. There is apparently a beautifully decorated old church here, but we decided not to go in. The gateway itself was bautiful though and very intricate.
The coast along this way is very rugged, with angry surf and jagged rocks. At the same time it is magnificent, and beuatiful in its own way. The road was hilly and windy in places with some pretty NZ bush on each side.
We were again reminded though of the East Cape’ers love of horses. There must be at least 5 for each person it seems. They all looked healthy though and the ones we saw close up did not have the covering of ticks that we noticed on our last trip here about 3 years ago. We were also reminded of either the poverty in the area or the lack of care about their state of their homes. Many needed a fair bit of love. Some had holes int he exterior walls and many had old broken down cars as garden ornaments. All over the place there were signs that said this is Maori land and to please respect it! Enough said!
The next stop for us the Omaio Bay Marae, just a short step off the main road. We had been told there were wonderful carvings here as well, and this was certainly true.
Closer inspection of the posts revealed a very marine theme – there were carved into the posts a variety of marine creaturs such a fish, stingray, but the there were also several bright green ghecko climbing up one side and down the other. There even looked like there was a Taniwha depicted.
The figures on the top of the posts looked suitably fierce
Omaio Bay itself was a pleasant little place, and the coast here was somewhat more gentle that the caost we had passed to get here. What was more of a bonus was there was a grassy verge to the shore which made parking the motorhome a breeze (just as well as it was my driving day today).
Just over the hill from here was another marae gateway. This one was completely different to the other two but none the less a spectacular piece of art.
From here it was just a short step to Te Kaha, which looked quite run down. One of our groups said the camp here was pretty grotty so we kept driving until we caught up with some of the other members of the group at Maraetai Bay.
Bruce and I had visited here 3 years ago and had liked it then. I remember the weather being better then, but there were also a lot more people enjoying the beach then. Now it was the sole domain of the campervanner’s. There was going to be just enough room for us all so the other member had parked their tow vehicles in strategic spots to save the late comers a place.
On one side of the park is a steep pebbly and rocky beach with breakers coming in. On the other side is a bit of a bay, protected from the breakers by a rocky groyne, so Bruce and I, andanother one of our travellers Dearne, couldn’t resist a swim. The water was great.
At night we were treated to a spectacular sunset. The setting sun was so bright at one stage we could not look at it, and had to turn our backs for 3-4 minutes. What a wonderful end to the day.
Away From Home NZ 