The drive around the East Cape to the Bay of Plenty is exciting, beautiful and soul searching. You will likely have most of it to yourself. Towns along the way are small and I remember stopping for lunch in one with 4 buildings. There was a fish and chip shop where we bought some wrapped in newspaper and walked down to the beach. We pulled up a driftwood log and sat in the sun having lunch in front of a quiet surf.
Take some time to view Raukokore Church on Papatea Bay, one of New Zealand’s heritage landmarks. We continued along the coast with Whakatane as our destination. As the afternoon drive got hot we spotted a random beach to have a dip in to break up the drive. Once again all to ourselves.
Opotiki is along the way. This small town was covered with ash from the Rotorua and Taupo volcanic eruptions and you can see White Island in the distance which is a very active geologic site. Boat tours to White Island are available. If you are interested check out New Zealand Tourism Guide or White Island Tours for details.
Ohope is the next stop which is a holiday destination for many Kiwis and sports a beautiful 11 km beach shoreline. There is plenty to do here from hiking the scenic reserve to fishing, golf, swimming, surfing and dining in a selection of restaurants that will please any palate. You might want to plan your stay in Ohope where there is a complete range of accommodation. Have a look at www.bayofplentynz.com to get you started.
We chose to move over to Whakatane which is a short drive over the hill and had a booking at 37 The Landing. Having never been to the town I am alway a little sceptical of motels sight unseen but I have to say that this was one of the most impressive places we were in. For $131 CDN we had a two bedroom suite which included a dining room, living room, full kitchen and back patio with BBQ. It was wonderful. We dined at Roulette on the Quay as we watched fishing boats return in the sunset and walked the river parkside walkway to its mouth after dinner. The next day we found ourselves hiking the Kohi Point Scenic track in the morning and into the Ohope Scenic Reserve in the afternoon.
The next day we were onto Papamoa, a suburb of Tauranga to stake out a spot somewhere on 16 km of white sand for a couple of nights. The Papamoa Surf Rescue Club will entertain you with their adrenalin filled practices if you are bored with surfing waves, building sand castles and catching rays. The town itself is a resort town designed to fill all your needs although development has trumped nostalgia from what I knew 30 years ago. But still plenty of fun.
It was back to Hamilton to say goodbye to our friends and grab one last look at a Raglan sunset before heading up to Aukland to catch our flight the next day. BTW @airnewzealand is one of our favourite carriers to fly. We love their friendly manner and they go out of their way to accommodate.
Cheers