Simply Sarah Suzanne

Today I had thought about stopping at a hot springs on my way out of Gisborne, but of course, as luck would have it, it was closed on Mondays so instead I headed out to the nearest beach. This happened to be Kaiti Beach which was again fairly empty. I sat on the beach, leaning against a large log, and read my book. It was a wonderful and peaceful start to the morning.  After finishing my book, I headed down the street to a nearby restaurant, called The Works, where I hoped I could see the water as I ate. Unfortunately, there was not a water view from the restaurant, but they still had good food (I got a salad with grilled salmon). After lunch, I got on the road towards Wairoa where I would be staying on a farm again! I had the cutest little one bedroom cottage. In the evening, 2 of the dogs stopped by to say hello and in the morning, the pig and horse were right outside my windows.

Originally, I had booked a tour of Moutohora Island, but unfortunately it got cancelled due to weather conditions. Instead, I decided to check out the Sunday Market and walk around town a bit to see what I might find. I also knew there was a library near by, so I figured if all else failed I could go in there and read for a while. The Sunday Market was rather small and mostly had fresh produce and food trucks. I walked around it a couple times and then decided to walk down the main street, The Strand, where I had seen a lot of shops on my way to the market. As I walked further down the street, I came upon a walking path right next to the Whakatane River. It was a beautiful day out, so I was somewhat confused as to why my original island tour was cancelled, but I ended up really enjoying my day nonetheless.  After walking up and down the path, I headed back to The Strand where I stopped in Baxter’s Cafe to have a latte and work on my blog post for the day. When I was done with my co...

Yesterday when I arrived at my AirBnB, the host recommended I not miss Hahei Beach and  Cathedral Cove so that’s what I decided to do this morning before leaving the area and heading south to Whakatane.  Hahei Beach is also known as hot water beach and at low tide, if you dig a hole in the sand, you can access hot ground water. I did not try this, due to timing and weather, but it is nonetheless a beautiful beach. From the beach, there is a walking trail which leads to Gemstone Bay, Stingray Bay, and Cathedral Cove. The walkway is paved, but very hilly and has steep stairs up/down to the water level. It was cloudy when I first set out in the morning, but the sun did come out as time went on. I am very glad I took my host’s advice and did not miss out on these beautiful views. After hiking back to Hahei beach and my car, I started the long drive to Whakatane.

  On my way out of Tauranga I decided to stop in Whangamata. I had originally hoped to kayak around Whenuakura Island, but the weather was still a bit windy and wet, so I decided against it. I did see the island from the beach and had a lovely walk along the sand. Most of the beaches I have visited have been fairly empty due to the season and this was no exception.  Although driving the highways in New Zealand can often be windy, it almost always provides more beautiful scenery.  After leaving Whangamata, I continued north towards Whitianga. Before checking in to my next AirBnB, I stopped at Cooks Beach. My AirBnB for the evening was the smallest of the trip, just a private bedroom and bathroom locked off from the main house, but it was once again beautiful surroundings and the host couple were very nice (with a sweet black lab who came to say hello).

  The first night in Tauranga it rained very hard and was extremely windy. Since I had two nights in this cute garden studio, I did not have to rush to get up and pack and go anywhere so I had a quiet morning listening to the rain. Around lunch time I decided to go out for a while and ended up driving around the Taronga Waterfront. I was able to see Mt. Maunganui, though it was still raining enough that I decided not to hike around it. Instead I did a bit of shopping and then headed back to the safety of my garden studio.  It was very lucky to have the extra time here to take a slow day. Towards the evening, the rain began to slow and eventually stopped in the night so that when I left the next morning I didn’t have to get all my things wet. 

  Today my main activity is a zipline canopy tour, but it does not start until 12:30 so after checking out of my AirBnB I found a cafe to get some brunch and work on my blog posts. I ended up at Urbano Bistro Cafe and Restaurant which turned out to be a perfect spot. There were a few tables occupied; a mens group was having a social hour and someone was working on a laptop, and a few couples were dining. I had the most delicious eggs Benedict and a latte and sat and ate and worked for a bit until it was time to head to the zipline.  In both Australia and New Zealand, it is not customary to tip in restaurants. This also leads restaurants to be structured a bit differently. In some, you first order at a counter and pay and then either take a number back to any table you choose where they’ll bring you your food or take a buzzer that lets you know when to come back up and get your food. In others, you are seated and order from your table but then at the end of the meal you go up t...

  After leaving the farm, I headed to Waitomo Glowworm Caves. There are 3 caves which you can tour, however since it is the slow, winter season, only one of the tours is currently running.  The tour starts off with a little history about how the caves were discovered and walking through a large ‘cathedral room’ where they have held holiday concerts with famous musical guests (the acoustics are apparently very good for music in this part of the cave). After walking down through the cave, we arrived at something like a dock where we boarded a small boat to travel the rest of the way through the caves. There are lights in certain places, and the tour guide has a flashlight (or torch as they call it) but most of the time these are all off so that we can see the glow worms. The worms live on the ceiling in certain parts of the cave and use the light they produce as a way of luring in their food. They also produce a web like substance which hangs down from the ceiling and can be see...