East Cape

We continue in an easterly direction carrying past many Kiwi Fruit Farms. to join the 35 which goes right round the East Cape.  This area is much more quieter and with definitely less tourism.  Off the coast we get many glimpses of White Island, still an active volcano, and inland ones no longer active. 
 
 

 
Went to see some of the wetland areas and enjoyed watching the Fantails displaying.




 

The weather was glorious and the views from the road spectacular.
 



 
We pass the very pretty Raukokore Church and quite a few Maori meeting houses with their wonderful wood carving.
 

 
 
 
Our destination for the evening is the East Cape Lighthouse on the most easterly point of New Zealand.  The road is shrinking in size, we are down to a single track road but with no-one else on it there's no problem.
 
 
 
 
 
I loved this sign, we didn't see any on the road though.
 
 
We felt really brave at this point, the road had collapsed into the sea.  We took our hats off to the working crew who precariously perched their digger to the seawards side to let us through.
 
 

 

 
 
Nowhere for us to camp up at the lighthouse as the ground looked to muddy so back to the village of Te Araroa, past the largest Pohutukawa tree in New Zealand, to a pitstop site in the garden of a large house. 
 

 

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