Woke up this morning to gray skies in Gisborne, rain was off and on throughout the day with pockets that were fine for an hour or more. We loaded up and headed towards Wainui - a beach area just north of the main town that we have heard great things about.
Our first stop was the Zephyr Cafe, which is located just one street back from the beach. Zephyr Cafe had come recommended from multiple sources, and it turned out that the teenage son of an old friend of ours works there (although their family is back in the US on vacation at the moment). Everything was great at the Zephyr Cafe, especially the Acaí bowl and Cafe Americano - the place is actually all vegan, but with their focus on bowls and smoothies, you largely wouldn't know.
From there we headed down to Wainui beach, the weather wasn't really cooperating at that point, but the beach was super long, with large headlands (which are actually nature reserves) on either end of it. The conditions weren't good but Gisborne in general, and Wainui in particular, are well regarded surfing areas in New Zealand. There is a definite surf presence in Gisborne - though not maybe as ubiquitous as it was in Whangamatā.
Sharyl then steered the car up the coast 30 or so minutes to Tolaga Bay. Along the way, we passed beach after empty beach. Other than the occasional seal and the penguin crossing signs on the road (we haven't spotted any penguins yet in the area but we are on the lookout!), the road then curved slightly inland and we were passing through picturesque hills and valleys "littered with sheep" as Sharyl succinctly put it.
Before long we were pulling into Tolaga Bay - where we passed a huge paddock of sheep - very exciting stuff - before we parked right in front of Tolaga's impressive Wharf.
The Tolaga wharf was open for shipping in 1929 then closed in 1968 - since then it has become a tourist attraction, although this area is pretty far off the main tourist routes, because of how massive it is. The wharf juts an astonishing 660 meters (just under 1/2 mile) out into the ocean!
There were only 3 other people we saw, who were walking back on the Wharf as we were heading out - otherwise we had the whole thing totally to ourselves. It has epic views in all directions and no surprise is reputed to be a great place to drop a fishing line out in the deep water at the end of the Wharf.
Though we had no fishing poles with us, Reef and I dangled our feet off the end of the Wharf for a bit - which made Sharyl pretty nervous, since leaning too far forward could land one of us 1/2 mile out in the ocean. Thankfully no one went for an unscheduled swim and we all just got to enjoy the views way out there, a long walk from land.
After checking out the wharf, we headed back to Gisborne, where we picked out one of the many playgrounds in town for Reef to burn off some energy. Of course it turned out to be awesome, right off the beach in a large park, the Adventure Playground as it is called has a half dozen areas each geared towards different age kids. Most of the time we were there we had the entire area to ourselves so Reef went from one section to another. River hit the swings and the boys and I all went on a little merry-go-round, which River loved but got me plenty dizzy with the 50+ rotations Reef insisted we do.
Tonight Sharyl made a home cooked meal (nice to have a kitchen), and she picked out a bunch of local items from the store for us to try out - including two varieties of kiwi fruit (one was green the other yellow . . . both were great but we liked the yellow one better- sweeter), local apples, locally made aged smoked cheddar, local brie, "strawberry tomatoes" (which seemed just like a slightly different shaped cherry tomato to us), and a Stoney River Chardonnay - locally produced here in Gisborne.
We continued our nightly games of cards after River hit the hay, Reef is improving at speed, and his Mom continues to be the reigning family champion . . . but we'll see what happens during tomorrows rematch!
Comments
Post a Comment