le tour de burt

So, flying around the North Island and spending a lot of money “doing stuff”, Neil and I decided to get out and about and see some of what the north had to offer. The guidebook steered us in the direction of Coromandal Peninsula, around the Bay of Plenty and along the East Cape. But I’ll hold my hands up now and say this road trip was far from what we were after. I’ll just give a brief overview of where we went and some of the highlights!!

Our little Jucy rental was collected at Auckland Airport, and surprise, surprise, it was raining…..and it rained most of the way to Thames along the Pacific Coast Highway (which if we’re honest NZ, does not hug the Pacific Coast at all!!).

With severe weather warnings over night, the walk we had anticipated carrying out was off the cards, I heard the possibility of fords and was not taking a chance with the Jucy lunchbox car – and we opted for a walk closer to Thames. It turned out to be the most bizarre walk we have done since arriving in NZ, spending most of it walking through cobwebs and then worrying about where the spider was…….We arrived in Whitianga, a little down hearted with more bad weather on the way, so headed out to the one attraction that we did want to see. Cathedral Coves – this was all very impressive, and I have to say with the stormy skies rolling in off the Ocean made for some nice photography!

Now, day 3 – we stopped at a market where Neil and I taste tested numerous jams, chutneys and the likes, never ones to turn down some free food! We arrived in Tauranga and ventured to the hot salt pools to chill out, relax and keep reassuring ourselves that this road trip would improve.

So, day 4, we did manage to make the summit of Mt Manganui (a bump in the road in comparison to some climbs we have done), but it did offer some nice views along the Bay of Plenty and was a good way to stretch the legs before a mammoth day of driving. After a brief stop in Whakatane to look at a statue out in the water we continued our travels on to Tiki Tiki, half way around the East Cape. The rain set in for the day, as did the constant road works, dropping us down in speed from 100km to 30km, the journey was never ending. So much so that when we got to the East Cape lighthouse neither Neil or I could be bothered climbing the 700 odd steps to the top – something that I think both of us now regret, but at the time we just could not face! 

Labour Day (bank holiday Monday to you and me) brought some nice weather and we managed to get out and have a stroll along some beaches, but with more driving to do, we could never hang around for long! We had a wander (and an ice cream) in Gisborne, this is where Captain Cook first landed in New Zealand and there is a statue to commemorate this – although the statue was modelled on an Italian Explorer – oops! Our last stop on the East Cape was Wairoa where we stayed for the night before heading back inland!

Heading back to Taupo down the Geothermal Highway we stretched our legs at a small lake, but nothing more, just more driving…..and even more rain if I remember correctly. So I’m sure you get the idea, that this was far from perfect, and far from the seeing the North – most of the time we couldn’t see for rain, but we did see something fairly spectacular before getting the car back to Auckland.

Waitomo Glowworm Caves, hundreds and thousands of glow worms, lighting up the cave. We were taken on a little raft around the wet cave, with nothing more than the glow of the worms to light the way. It was spectacular, and I have to say really worth the lengthy de-tour around the North Island to see!

Aftet the mammoth road trip it was off to the City of Sails…..we will update you next week with our adventures