ECT, Part 3

Next stop on the East Cape Trip is Anaura Bay, which is about half-way up the north-south half of the East Cape (point #5 on the map). This much must be said: there are a gazillion little bays and coves in New Zealand. You just have to pick a couple at which to spend more time. Jesse and I picked this one because it looked like it had a nice hike through some coastal forest. Turns out there is also free car camping just below the hike, right on the water. Pretty nice spot, actually.

The hike itself was strange. The posted gov't sign billed it as two miles in two hours! That's a slow hike. We did it faster, but it was quite difficult, so not that much faster. A stretch went through mud, another, almost technical stretch had us repeatedly zig-zagging across a creek (basically jumping it each time), and then the rest was pretty much steeply uphill. Until we got lost. Then we re-found the track, and it was an easy downhill from there for the last half-mile or so. A possum, and lots of wild goats, kept us company throughout.

Except for the first picture, which is from the road just above the trailhead, all of these pictures are from the hike itself. You'll notice one shot of the famous Kiwi Silver Fern. (My first one, actually, even though an artist's rendering of the Silver Fern is everywhere as NZ's national flora.) And another I like to call "self-portrait."

I suppose at this point I should say something about this eastern stretch of the East Cape. It's basically all just farming and timber. There is nothing here. And very few people live here. If you wanted to spend the night between Anaura Bay and Te Araroa, it would have to be camping or on a farmstay, I think. Either way, it's a beautiful drive.

Coming up next: the best part of the drive, and the East Cape itself.