Tokomaru Bay to Napier, New Zealand: Sunday, June 15, 2014

Sunday morning – We are on the road again, going around a zillion curves, up the many mountains, and then down again, over a bridge where a mountain creek flows, and then back up over the next mountain! Today we began seeing sheep by the hundreds dotting the mountainsides and very few dairy herds.  Also along the way there were large shearing sheds which indicated these were large sheep ranches/stations. We also saw goats, some along the side of the road eating the grass. They did not seem to wander out onto the roads.

Post Office B&B

Tokomaru Bay

Yesterday we saw some timber/tree farms, but today we saw hundreds of acres of timber.  On this Pacific coast highway we saw logging trucks parked for the weekend, while others were running. When we were in Tauranga harbor we saw huge piles of lumber that was waiting to be loaded onto ships for transport to China. So today we could imagine where these trucks were going. Also this afternoon we saw several triple decked semis loaded with sheep – probably going to the processing plant for tomorrow.   

Sheep Grazing Country

Grazing Land by the Sea

Sheep Dotting the Hillside

Sheep Shearing Shed by the Sea

Hawke Bay



Mandarins on Dwarf Trees



Sheep Shearing Shed



Trimming Trees for the Lumber Industry



New Trees

Late this afternoon we arrived in Napier, checked into a hotel, relaxed, even though it still felt like you were going around curves!!

They say that the East Cape “feels like the edge of the earth”.  Well in some ways it definitely has felt that way the last two days.  Cal & I do enjoy the remote and that is why we wanted to do this route.  However if we did it over or would advise anyone, I would recommend doing the route in 3 days instead of 2 days like we did.  We simply have been too rushed.  It takes longer than you think it will.  All of the tight curves slow you down, plus there are so many beautiful spots and beautiful coves where you want to stop and soak in the beauty. The ocean waves are so mesmerizing, high, and powerful.